AI calls on govt to deliver justice for Dalit killings

Kathmandu - Nepal’s authorities must immediately and effectively investigate the deaths of five Dalits, including a 12-year-old girl who had been forcibly married to her rapist, and deliver justice to the victims, Amnesty International (AI) said today. On 23 May, in the Devdaha village of Rupandehi district, the body of a 12-year-old Dalit girl was discovered hanging from a tree. The day before, she had been forcibly married to a man from a dominant caste who had raped her. A preliminary police investigation found that she had been raped and murdered.

On the same day, in Rukum district, a group of 18 young men, many of them belonging to the Dalit community, were attacked by a village mob from a dominant caste, who chased them to the edge of the Bheri river, where the bodies of five men were discovered over the next five days. One other man remains missing. Local government representatives are implicated in both tragedies, necessitating an independent and effective investigation. According to media reports, a ward chair was part of the group of villagers who organized the forced marriage of the raped 12-year-old Dalit girl in Rupandehi district. Another ward chair, in Rukum district, is now in police custody for his involvement with the violent mob.