Former chief of the District Coordination Committee (DCC) in Jhapa has claimed that he has become a victim of caste-based discrimination and abuse. Somnath Portel, the provincial level CPN-UML leader who earlier served as the DCC chief, lodged a complaint at the Area Police Office in Birtamod on Wednesday.

Portel, in his police complaint, claimed that Dambar Giri, a former vice-chairman of Haldibari Rural Municipality in Jhapa, verbally abused him using caste-related derogatory words. According to him, Giri telephoned him on March 31 and inquired about the agenda of the UML’s recent meeting. Portal claimed that Giri verbally insulted Portel after the latter refused to divulge details of the meeting.

“He (Giri) called me on my cell phone and asked me to share what leaders said during the recent UML district convention. He started abusing me after I said that I could not disclose such matters,” said Portel. “He verbally abused me using derogatory words regarding the caste-based discrimination and untouchability.”

Portal lodged the complaint seeking justice and action against the guilty. He also provided an audio record as evidence to the police.

Giri was elected vice-chairman of Haldibari Rural Municipality on a UML ticket in 2017. But in 2022, he contested for the post of chairman as a rebel candidate during the local elections after the UML refused him a ticket. Giri later joined the Madhav Kumar Nepal-led CPN (Unified Socialist) before signing up to the Rastriya Swatantra Party recently.

“We have received a complaint and will investigate it. Anyone found guilty of committing crime will face action,” said Prakash Bista, Deputy Superintendent of Police at the Area Police Office in Birtamod.

Incidents of caste-based discrimination and untouchability are unchecked in Jhapa, a Tarai district of Koshi Province. According to Dalit rights activists, most cases of caste-based discrimination and untouchability rarely make it to the police. Such cases are usually settled in the village at the behest of village leaders.

“Even the high profile Dalit leader who earlier served as the DCC chief has been a victim of caste-based discrimination. What would be the situation of ordinary Dalit people in Jhapa and the whole country?” said Naresh Khati, an advocate and Dalit rights activist in Jhapa. According to him, two caste-based discrimination cases were registered with the police in the current fiscal year of 2023-24.

In October 2023, Ranju Bishwakarma was discriminated against for being a Dalit by her neighbours. Two women had been arrested after the victim lodged a police complaint. The case is sub judice in the Jhapa district court though the accused were released on bail.

During the Covid pandemic in August 2020, national record-holder athlete Chandra Kala Lamgade had been assaulted by a non-Dalit couple. Lamgade, who works for Nepal Police and holds two national records in athletics, was seven months pregnant when the incident happened. The couple beat her up when she confronted her neighbour and former Nepal Army personnel Durga Shrestha, along with his wife Bishnu, who attacked Rajan Darji, a local Dalit man allegedly for visiting their eatery in Charali.

The local leaders and police had urged Lamgade to reach a compromise, but she refused. Her husband Suman Khati had filed a case at the Area Police Office in Dhulabari seeking justice. Dalit rights activists claimed that the police had attempted an ‘out of court settlement’ of the case. The police tried to register a case of ‘indecent behaviour’ but they finally registered it as a case of caste-based discrimination following pressure from Dalit rights activists.

Section 7 (a) of the Caste-based Discrimination and Untouchability (Offence and Punishment) Act, 2011, with its third amendment in 2018, says a person who commits the offence referred to in sub-sections 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 of Section 4 shall be liable to imprisonment between three months and three years and a fine between Rs50,000 and Rs200,000. Section 4 is related to incidents involving caste-based discrimination and untouchability.

However, cases related to caste-based discrimination are running rampant mainly due to poor implementation of laws and lack of mass awareness.

In May 2020, six Dalit youths were killed in Rukum West. Following the killings spurred by caste-based hate, the Ministry of Home Affairs wrote to the province police offices to set up a Dalit desk in all district police offices.