KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 6

Khagendra Sunar is not tired, but rather tanned from the scorching sun and bruised from the iron chains and shackles weighing 3 kg, which he has been wearing and carrying on for a month now. This has left a mark on his neck that will take months to heal. However, he is adamant about not changing his mind any soon.

He has been standing at Maitighar Mandala, a government-designated protest site, for 31 days. He has been protesting in a peaceful, despite the fact that he was arrested by the police but released immediately after public criticism and pressure.

Since childhood, Khagendra has stood against aggression and violence. Having spent more than a decade at Osho Tapoban, the 32-year-old says, 'I can't even imagine violence. I am simply a symbolic representation of the situation of over 6 million Dalits who have always faced discrimination based on social norms they did not establish in the first place.'

'Moreover, they have always been overshadowed by the state, despite their several contributions in various movements in institutionalising democracy,' he added.

Some of the stagnant instances of discrimination that he recalled during an interview with the Himalayan Times were Nawaraj B.K. cold-blooded murder for marrying his beloved so-called upper caste.

On May 23, 2020, Nawaraj and his friends, who had gone to Sotigaun to fetch his girlfriend as Nawaraj's bride, were pursued by Sotigaun residents, killed cold-blood, and thrown into the Bheri River.

'Nepal was declared free of caste-based discrimination on June 4, 2006, but Nawaraj was killed in a gruesome manner by educated and elite people,' he recalled. When I carried Nawaraj's body to cremation. It shook and shattered me, awakening my senses to what has been happening to Dalits in this country for many years.'

Subsequently, he immediately sat in protest in front of the district police office for case registration. He undertook fast-unto-death for six days. Finally, the struggle for justice in the aftermath of the murder of Nawaraj and others, which began in 2020, was resolved in 2023 after the Rukum Paschim District Court sentenced 24 individuals to lifetime imprisonment for their involvement in the killing of six persons. He has also been fighting for Ajit Mizar, whose body is awaiting justice at Teaching Hospital's morgue for eight years. However, justice remains elusive.

On 14 July, 2016, Ajit, who was in an inter-caste relationship with a non-Dalit girl of so-called dominant caste, was discovered dead under suspicious circumstances. Police immediately recorded Ajit's death as suicide, and his body was declared unidentified. The authorities quickly buried him without informing his family. Ajit's father discovered certain anomalies in the post-mortem report produced by authorities, raising his suspicions. He requested that his son's body be exhumed and refused to perform final rites until justice was served.

He claimed that these are among the few incidents that have come to light and piqued the public's interest while they awaited justice. 'There are numerous incidents of injustice and inequality against Dalits that go unnoticed and unreported,' he told THT.

Similarly, Amnesty International Nepal quotes Anita Mahara, a Dailt woman, as saying that 'no one cares.' As police officers responsible for social security, they make them feel unsafe in society.

Angira Pasi, a 12-year-old Dalit girl, was discovered hanging from a tree in Rupandehi District in May 2020, having been raped by a 25-year-old non-Dalit man from the so-called dominant caste. Initially, the police had refused to register a complaint from the victim's family. Following civil society pressure, a complaint was filed, and the accused, his mother, and aunt were arrested as suspects. However, the case is pending before the high court.

Khagendra emphasised discrimination from all sectors has been systematic and institutionalised in Nepalese society.

Caste discrimination is a cultural and social phenomenon that has existed in Hindu traditions for thousands of years, with people divided into castes in a hierarchical order based on their descent. Despite the constitution's endorsement of secularism, various governments' efforts to eliminate caste-based discrimination, such as legislative changes, have proven to be ineffective.

'Even in the current cabinet led by Oli, he has not given space to any Dalit,' he claimed. 'During the election, Dalits fall behind in contesting due to a lack of reach and wealth, and the party does not give them tickets. When they come through proportional representation, they implement laws as if only MPs from direct would get the ministry. This is a systematic exclusion of Dalits.'

Several reports claim that many Dalit children drop out of school, resulting in a lack of opportunities and poverty. According to Khagendra Sunar, Dalits have been forced to use separate places for cremating their dead and prevented from using wells and taps in non-Dalit areas, barred from entering temples, their marriages not being recognized, and even finding it difficult to rent a flat in Kathmandu.

'Over 1500 Dalits have sacrificed their lives to secure their rights in the constitution. However, we continue to lack meaningful participation. I will stand still and symbolically until Dalits receive what is constitutionally guaranteed,' he concludes.