By Our Reporter

The demolishment of a house belonging to a poor Dalit family and the removal of a layer of soil on which the Dalit's house was standing to perform a Yagya in Siraha shows that the practice of untouchability is still deep-rooted in the country, especially in Tarai.

The incident drew condemnation from political parties, and human rights organizations, including the National Human Rights Commission and others. However, Deepak Malik Dom, a Dalit of Ward No. 5 of Aurahi Rural Municipality in Siraha has already become a victim of the evil practice.

Deepak was initially excited when he learned that a Mahayagya (grand Hindu sacrificial ritual) would be held in his locality. However, his happiness was short-lived. The event’s organiser, Bajrangi Baba, ordered the demolition of Deepak’s house, claiming that Dalits should neither live nor move around the area near the ritual pavilion (mandap).

Without delay, the rural municipality chairman Shivaji Yadav dispatched a bulldozer to demolish the house. The soil from the site where Deepak’s house 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 Hulaki Highway in Aurahi has been displaced ahead of the event, scheduled to start on March 30. The organiser, Bajrangi Baba, along with rural municipality chair Yadav and former ward chair Dilip Yadav, forcibly relocated the family, setting up a temporary shelter for them away from the rest of the community.

Deepak and his wife, Anita, both employed as sanitation workers in the rural municipality, have refrained from filing a police complaint for fear of losing their jobs. Stigmatised as untouchables, Deepak, Anita, and five other family members have been forcibly relocated to a site about 500 metres away from their original home, where a temporary bamboo house has been built for them. However, when the inhuman incident came to light, seeking punishment for the wrong-doers, the organisers of the Yagya and the Rural Municipality chairman were on the run.

The Siraha incident showed that the mindset of the people has not changed despite political awareness and legal provisions to discourage untouchability in society.