The lot of Dalits in Nepal hasn’t changed much. From entrenched untouchability practices in both rural and urban areas to heinous crimes such as lynching of Kavrepalanchok’s Ajit Mijar in 2019 and Jajarkot's Nabaraj BK in 2020 for daring to love beyond caste boundaries, the society continues to strip them of dignity and freedom. Given these atrocities, the constitutional guarantees of non-discrimination and equality, and tall claims of the eradication of untouchability ring hollow.

A recent incident in Aaurahi Rural Municipality, Siraha, has brought another glaring atrocity against the Dalits to light. On February 22, in the name of a Mahayagya (Hindu sacrificial ritual), the organiser Bajrangi Baba, coordinating with a former ward chair and the sitting rural municipality chairperson, bulldozed the house of Deepak Malik Dom. He also had the ‘impure’ soil at the site of the house removed. A Dalit family living near the proposed ‘Vishnu Mahayagya’ was, apparently, an anathema. As a result, the family was forcefully relocated to a temporary shelter at some distance.

The Dom couple which worked in the rural municipality’s sanitation programme didn’t file a case with the police in the fear of losing their jobs. Nor did they speak up on their forced relocation or lack of access to drinking water and electricity. That the state apparatus which should have been safeguarding the life and dignity of all citizens was itself involved in this inhumane deed further emboldened the violators, leaving the victims in a lurch. Only after the Siraha incident garnered national attention and attracted widespread criticism in federal Parliament as well as Madhesh Provincial Assembly last week did the Dom family muster the courage to complain against the perpetrators.

Only a few incidents make headlines. For instance, news about disparity in access to water—a well for 10 Dalit households and water taps for non-Dalits at Chaklekhola village of Olani in Godavari Municipality-10 of Kailali, Sudurpaschim Province—had surfaced last year. Similarly, a few years ago, local representatives of Tamakoshi Rural Municipality in Dolakha district set aside a budget for a separate ‘Kiriya Putri’ building (a structure for the 13-day Hindu death ritual). The state’s complicity in the mistreatment of Dalits, as happened in Siraha, can further fan the country-wide discrimination against this community.

Dalits face systemic hurdles while accessing justice. As a recent Amnesty International report highlights: “They [Dalits] continue to face multiple barriers in access to justice and have no recourse to reparations due to institutional discrimination, including in the police”. If the oppressed in the country fear speaking up against injustice, with the state bodies themselves aiding and fuelling discrimination, the building of a just Nepali society appears a long way off. Yes, the Dalits need to be made aware of their rights and existing laws. But much more important is to hold the violators of their rights to account and punish them. More than anything else, this calls for a change in mindset that continues to blindly follow centuries-old discriminatory customs in the name of religion.

Coming to the Siraha case, the two local representatives are now in custody while Bajrangi Baba is still absconding. Small victories matter. If justice is seen to be done in this case, it could boost the morale of other Dalits who too are valiantly fighting for their rights—every single day.