Chain of injustice

The perpetrators of the caste killings in Rukum West are yet to face justice.

It has been a year since the caste killings in Rukum West shook the moral foundations of the Nepali state. Navaraj Bishwokarma and his five friends were brutally thrashed and thrown into the Bheri River because Navaraj, a 21-year-old Dalit boy from Jajarkot, had dared to love an "upper caste" girl. What could have been an exemplary case of youths from two disparate castes breaking social barriers for the sake of love and humanity had turned into a tragedy that showed Nepali society where it stands in terms of freedom and equality.