KATHMANDU, May 22: A group of youth environmental activists staged demonstration in Kathmandu on Saturday demanding justice to Dilip Kumar Mahato, who was murdered by crusher operators after he protested their illegal activities some three years ago.

The symbolic protest was held at Maitighar Mandala demanding the government to declare Mahato an 'environment martyr'. The protestors also demanded life imprisonment to those involved in Mahato's callous murder and closure of all illegally operated crusher industries with immediate effect to conserve environment.  

Earlier on the day, the group also organized a legal briefing and updates on the case filed against the murderers of the youth environment activist. They complained that the state had failed to take any against the murderers even as a case is pending  at the District Court, Dhanusha, according to youth activist Abhishek Shrestha.

Advocate Padam Bahadur Shrestha, who is pleading on behalf of late Mahato's family, said that there are fears that perpetrators are making efforts to weaken the case terming it as an 'accidental death' even as this was a deliberate case of a murder. The ninth hearing on the case is scheduled for Monday at the District Court, Dhanusha.

Speaking on the occasion, senior journalist and rights activist Kanak Mani Dixit argued that the collective failure of the society to take action against Mahato's murderers had emboldened such elements in the society and weakened the country's environmental movement as a whole. 

Twenty-four-year-old Dilip Kumar Mahato was struck and dragged by the tipper driver when he tried to obstruct illegal extraction of riverbed materials in Dhanusha on January 10, 2020.  Three of the five accused of murdering Mahato have been already arrested, but the court is yet to pass a verdict on the case.

 
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