Santa Bahadur Chandaro (Bishwakarma) of Pokhara-32, Malmul, never thought that he would have to return home humiliated when he went to accept an invitation to his neighbor's wedding. He had gone to a wedding reception and returned home after being touched by a stranger.

The wedding feast of the son of Sant Bahadur's neighbor Kashiram Ghimire was held on 9 Falgun at the Namaste Party Palace in Pokhara-26 Arghaun. He arrived around 1 pm to accept the invitation. Since he was a Dalit from Malmul, he was the only invitee from the Dalit community at the wedding feast. Arrangements were made for the invitees to bring their own food to the party palace.

While entering the party palace and moving towards the place where the food was being served, another neighbor of Sant Bahadur, Savitri Baral, arrived. She said to Sant Bahadur in a soft voice, 'Don't sit in the food line. I will bring you food on a plate. Instead, we will sit and eat separately.' Sant Bahadur understood that since he was a Dalit, he was not allowed to sit in the line where everyone else was sitting. He asked Baral, ‘Who told you?’ Baral pointed to the groom’s father, Kashiram, and said, ‘Don’t mix the food in the pot, take the food out and serve it on a separate table.’

After being invited to the wedding feast and insulted in front of the other guests, he returned home without eating. ‘I didn’t eat that day even after coming home, I didn’t sleep all night,’ he said. ‘If I wanted to insult in front of those people, I would have never invited you.’

Kashiram, a 60-year-old retired teacher, reached Sant Bahadur’s house the next day. He had brought Chiranjeevi Tiwari, Padmaraj Tiwari, Indra Vilas Poudel, Narayan Tiwari and other neighbors. Kashiram said, ‘Don’t think it’s difficult to have a wedding feast.’ Sant Bahadur said that he would take legal action, saying that he had been discriminated against by caste. He said, ‘Giving me a separate plate when everyone else was eating is a direct form of caste discrimination.’

Kashiram ‘apologized for what happened.’ Others who went with him also pressured him to settle the matter in the village. ‘No matter how much an animal was treated, my heart was burning with the pain of humiliation, I did not want to end it with an apology,’ said Sant Bahadur, ‘How long will we tolerate it in the name of dividing a harmonious society? After all, it seems that this society has come together after we endured it.’

On Sunday, he went to the District Police Office to file a complaint demanding action against Kashiram Ghimire and Savitri Ghimire under the Caste and Other Untouchability and Discrimination (Offences and Punishments) Act, 2068 BS. But the police pressured him to settle it through discussion and sent him back. Sant Bahadur did not agree. His relative and neighbor Mahesh Godar Sunar suggested that he should file a complaint instead of settling the dispute.

On Monday, Sant Bahadur, Mahesh Godar and other Dalit activists reached the police and pressured them to register a complaint. The police arrested Kashiram after taking the complaint at the last minute. Savitri Baral was arrested on Tuesday. ‘He is also a UML leader, and I have received threatening calls from UML leaders repeatedly saying that the village should be settled in the village,’ said Mahesh Godar, who is also an artist. ‘Just because you have to live in the village tomorrow does not mean you have to endure discrimination.’ He said that the police finally took the complaint after the Dalit community said that they would launch a protest if the complaint was not registered. Kashiram said that he had asked everyone to get together and feed the party and that he had not untouchable anyone.

Sant Bahadur has demanded punishment under Section 7 and compensation under Section 9 for those who commit the crime of caste discrimination prohibited by Section 3 of the Caste and Other Untouchability and Discrimination (Offences and Punishments) Act, 2068 BS. Section 3 states that no one shall commit or cause caste and other social untouchability and discrimination, nor shall anyone assist, encourage, incite or attempt to commit such acts. If such acts are committed, it shall be considered an offence under the Act.

Section 4(2) makes it an offence to prohibit any person from entering, attending or participating in a public or private place or to impose any kind of restriction, control or restriction on any person on the basis of caste, custom, religion, culture, customs, caste, lineage, community, profession or business or physical condition, or to expel, socially boycott or discriminate against any person individually or collectively from a public place or function or to impose any kind of restriction on such action or to display any other kind of intolerant behaviour.