Siraha, March 21 -- Deepak Malik Dom, a Dalit from ward 5 of Aurahi Rural Municipality in Siraha, was initially excited when he learned that a Mahayagya (grand Hindu sacrificial ritual) would be held in his locality.

But his happiness was short-lived. The event's organiser, Bajrangi Baba, ordered the demolition of Deepak's home, claiming that Dalits should neither live nor move in the area near the ritual pavilion (mandap).

Without delay, on February 22, the rural municipality chairman Shivaji Yadav dispatched a bulldozer to demolish the home. The soil from the site where Deepak's home once stood was also removed claiming that the land had been rendered impure.

The Dalit family living near the 'Vishnu Mahayagya' proposed site along the...