RUPANDEHI, June 5 -- A week ago, Dalit rights activist Mina Pariyar reached Butwal, the temporary capital of Province 5 and searched for a room on rent. She was looking for a new place for her daughter, a ninth grader at the Laxmi Secondary School of Butwal. After taking the help of her friends, she finally found a room at a house whose owner's surname was Khatri.

She loaded her bags and other materials and reached Laxminagar of Butwal from Shivaraj of Kapilvastu. After reaching the new location, she could not believe that the landlord who had earlier agreed to allow the room refused to do so after learning that she was a Dalit. One of the Dalit women in the locality who witnessed the incident immediately reported the incident to the pol...