The National Dalit Commission has called for an impartial investigation into the alleged refusal of a house owner in Kathmandu to rent out her premises to a woman of the Dalit community on the basis of her caste.

In a press statement, dated Thursday and signed by its chair Dev Raj Bishwakarma, the commission called on the office of the government attorney, and the Kathmandu and Metropolitan Police offices, to find the truth behind the incident and take action against the accused keeping in mind the provisions of the constitution, the existing laws and the sensitivity of the issue of caste-based discrimination and make the findings of the investigation public.

Rupa Sunar, a resident of Tanahun currently working in the media sector in Kathmandu, had accused a woman of Babarmahal, Kathmandu of caste-based discrimination by refusing to rent out her house because of her caste.

Sunar had subsequently filed a discrimination case against the house owner on June 17 and she was later arrested on June 20.

The police released the house owner from custody on June 23 after the Kathmandu district attorney’s office said that investigation into the case was incomplete.

The commission has also questioned the role of Education Minister Krishna Gopal Shrestha for his involvement in securing the release of the house owner.

“The commission has taken the incident of Krishna Gopal Shrestha, a minister of the Nepal government, going to the police office to secure the release of the accused as unfortunate and abuse of a public post challenging constitutional guarantees of human rights, rule of law, right against discrimination while the police were conducting the necessary investigation,” the commission said.