Rautahat, August 24

Niranjan Ram Murder District Struggle Committee held a demonstration against police in Garuda Municipality today.

The demonstration also had the participation of Dalik Mukti Morcha Chairperson and former National Assembly member Ramprit Pasawan, who accused the police of trying to shield the real perpetrators behind the murder by using a minor and forcing her to give a phoney statement.

Over 2,000 members of the Dalit community took part in the demonstration in front of Garuda Area Police Office.

Speaking at a protest meeting today, former MP Pasawan accused the police of framing an innocent and saving the guilty on the basis of money power.

“The Dalit community won’t keep quiet until the police bring to book the real perpetrator behind the murder,” Pasawan said. “The police should have arrested the operator of the nursery (Search Nursery), who had hired people to slit to death 20-year-old Nirajan Ram of Basabiti Jigadiya of Garuda Municipality on the night of August 15, but they are arresting innocent persons, that’s why we had to agitate,” he said.

When asked whether the demonstration had made fun of the prohibitory order, Pasawan said they were forced to resort to the agitation. “Even though it’s the time of health crisis, we can’t help staging the agitation in the face of the injustice done to the Dalit community by the administration and the state,” Pasawan argued.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on August 25, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.