On May 24, the bodies of Nawaraj Bishwakarama and Tika Ram Sunar were found on the banks of the banks of the Bheri river in the Jajarkot district of Southern Nepal. The bodies of three of their friends were found a day later while the body of a sixth man, Govinda Shahi, remains missing. All six men were members of the low-case Dalit minority and are believed to have been murdered due to the forbidden love affair between Nawaraj Bishwakarama and an upper-caste girl.
While Nepal's caste system closely resembles the traditional Hindu caste system followed in India, the current system is considered to be less restrictive with caste discrimination being outlawed under Article 18 of Nepal's constitution. Despite these legal protections, the Dalit caste (also known as the "untouchable" caste) to which the dead men belonged still faces frequent discrimination. Making up only 12.8 percent of the total population, Dalits have almost no representation in their government and are often treated as second class citizens denied many of the educational and work opportunities available to members of higher castes. There have also been numerous cases of Dalits being assaulted or killed with little or no punishment for the higher-caste perpetrators as police often fail to investigate reported crimes.
According to available news sources, Nawaraj, a 21-year-old Dalit who had hoped to become a police officer, fell in love with 17-year-old Sushma Malla. As a member of an upper caste, Sushma's family had actively opposed the relationship as they were hoping to marry her to someone in her own caste. They issued repeated warnings to Nawaraj and had even reported him to the police on one occasion. The murders were apparently triggered by Nawaraj and Sushma making plans to elope.
On the night of May 23, Nawaraj, along with 18 of his friends, went to Sushma's village in the Rukum district so that the two could elope. After they arrived, the men were chased, stoned and beaten by a mob led by Sushma's father. To save themselves, some of men being attacked jumped into the nearby river and managed to escape though Nawaraj and five of his friends were killed in the fall. Survivors reported that Nawaraj had been particularly targeted and that "All his body parts, including his head, were seriously injured. He wasn't able to move and he was thrown into the river, he was not in a condition to even swim [so he] could survive." Some of Nawaraj's friends were turned over to police though they were later released.
After the bodies were recovered, police arrested sixteen villagers known to be part of the mob, including Dambar Bahadur Malla, Sushma's father. Dambar is also ward chair of the local municipality and is believed to have used his authority to recruit the other mob members, as well as members of his own family.
The killings have sparked protests across the country with human rights groups and Dalit leaders calling for immediate action on the case. Despite the outrage, many are afraid that the latest atrocity will be quickly forgotten like other crimes involving Dalit victims. The Nepal chapter of Amnesty International is calling for an impartial probe into the murders as well as the recent death of a twelve-year-old Dalit girl who was found hanging from a tree one day after she was forcibly married to an upper-caste man who had raped her. A preliminary police investigationhad found that she had been raped and murdered.
“Given the involvement of local government representatives in both tragedies, and the fears of the victims that justice will not be delivered, it is imperative that there is an independent and effective investigation,” the statement quoted Nirajan Thapaliya, director of Amnesty International Nepal, as saying. “The suspected perpetrators must be held accountable through a process that is credible in the eyes of the victims and their families...The shocking violence highlights the enduring structural problems that reinforce the caste-based discrimination, ostracization, and violence that Dalits in Nepal are subjected to. The limited progress that has been made in laws and policies to protect Dalits is clearly not enough and must be urgently accelerated.”
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