The Kaski District Court has sentenced three individuals to a one-year prison term and fined Rs 50,000 each on charges of caste-based discrimination.

A single bench of district judge Abani Mainali Bhattarai on Monday issued the sentence against Dev Bahadur Thapa, Ram Bahadur GC and Janak Thapa, residents of Batulechaur in Pokhara Metropolitan City, who were found guilty of caste-based discrimination against Manoj Sunar of the same area.

Sunar upon performing the final rites of his father Sammar Bahadur Sunar, who died in Dubai in 2020, wanted to observe the post-cremation rituals in a public building built for the purpose of performing the 13-day mourning rituals at Gaidako Khor in Batulechaur.

The trio had barred Sunar from entering the public hall stating that a person from a Dalit community cannot enter the building that is being used by people from Brahmin and Chhetri communities.

Mohan Sunar, the brother of the deceased, said that he was abused verbally and threatened with life after he asked for the keys to the building on April 9, 2020.

Following the incident, Mohan filed a complaint at the Kaski District Police Office against the three individuals on April 26, 2020 on charges of caste-based discrimination stating that a Dalit was not allowed to use a community building.

Acting on the complaint, the police arrested the accused and kept them under custody for a week.

Soon after their arrest, CPN-UML leader and the then Gandaki Province assembly member Krishna Bahadur Thapa issued a statement demanding the culprits' immediate release facing backlash from the public.

However, the police completed their investigation and the district attorney’s office filed the chargesheet at the court.

The accused were later released on a general date after posting a bail amount of Rs 170,000 each.

The case that saw multiple hearings finally came to an end on Monday after remaining sub judice for around two-and-a-half years.

“Justice is not dead yet, and I feel like there are still people who would speak in favour of justice,” said Mohan Sunar. “The verdict has established that the judiciary provides justice and this message should reach everywhere.”