Nepal, March 25 -- The lot of Dalits in Nepal hasn't changed much. From entrenched untouchability practices in both rural and urban areas to heinous crimes such as lynching of Kavrepalanchok's Ajit Mijar in 2019 and Rukum's Nabaraj BK in 2020 for daring to love beyond caste boundaries, the society continues to strip them of dignity and freedom. Given these atrocities, the constitutional guarantees of non-discrimination and equality, and tall claims of the eradication of untouchability ring hollow.

A recent incident in Aaurahi Rural Municipality, Siraha, has brought another glaring atrocity against the Dalits to light. On February 22, in the name of a Mahayagya (Hindu sacrificial ritual), the organiser Bajrangi Baba, coordinating with a f...