Dalit Non-Governmental Organization Federation (DNF) has condemned the incident in which Bhim Bahadur Bishwakarma, 58, of Bharatpur Metropolitan City-4, Chitwan on October 14 was beaten to death by Sitaram Basnet and Dilip Shrestha when he entered at a local Durga temple for prayer.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the federation said the incident was not only the culmination of a series of racial discrimination, oppression, injustice, atrocities and killings against the Dalit community, but also a serious violation of Nepal's constitution, prevailing national and international human rights law.
Nepal has been declared as a discrimination free nation. The constitution and law prohibit any kind of discrimination in public and private places.
But when Bishwakarma raised his voice that he too should be allowed to worship at the temple, the men had hit him on the head with bricks and pipes till he died.
The federation has stated that the incident has not only challenged the administration and law but also rejected the change and tried to push the society backwards.
The federation has strongly demanded the government to form a high-level judicial inquiry committee to make the facts of the incident public and take legal action against the perpetrators, provide proper justice and compensation to the families of the victim and take necessary steps to prevent such incidents from happening again.
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