By Gopal Sharma
KATHMANDU, June 17 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Ever since the death of a young Dalit man killed along with five friends in what activists called a “caste-based massacre”, Nepalis have been taking to streets to demand an end to a form of discrimination that remains rife years after it was outlawed.
The protesters have not turned out in large numbers – a strict coronavirus lockdown has deterred all but the most determined.
But campaigners say their persistence is a sign of the outrage felt among people from Nepal’s lowest caste over a failure to tackle widespread violence and discrimination, echoing the Black Lives Matter protests around the world.
The head of the Kathmandu-based Dalit NGO Federation said the killing of Nabaraj Bika, 21, who was chased into a river with his friends as he prepared to elope with a 17-year-old girl from a higher-caste family, was a failure of governance.
“The state has failed to maintain law and order and prevent such illegal and inhuman acts,” Bhakta Bishwakarma told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“We are living in terror and urge the government to deliver justice to victims by punishing the perpetrators of the crime.”
