Doctor arrested for sexual assault
Police have arrested a doctor working at the Chhinnamasta Hospital in Rajbiraj of Saptari on charges of sexually abusing a patient under the pretext of treatment.
Superintendent of Police Rajendra Prasad Dhamala informed that they arrested Rajan Jaiswal, a pediatrician, on March 26 for sexually abusing the patient, a 25-year-old woman, at the hospital.
“Initially, I thought he accidentally touched me while examining my newborn baby,” the victim reported, “But then he started opening my blouse and touching me inappropriately despite my repeated protests.”
The woman from Khutuna in Madhubani district of Bihar, India, had come to her maternal home in Saptari for delivery of her child. She was admitted to Chhinnamasta Hospital and gave birth to a baby girl on March 24. The newborn was sent to the ICU.
Preliminary police investigation has shown that it is an incident of sexual abuse. The victim has lodged a complaint at the District Police Office. Hospital administrator Rajesh Jha has issued a statement informing that the hospital has immediately suspended Jaiswal.
Indian family arrested for acquiring fake Nepali citizenship
Six members of an Indian family have been arrested in Saptari for acquiring Nepali citizenships by submitting false details. Their citizenships have been annulled.
The district court on March 23 gave a verdict that Indian national Gangadhar Yadav, chief of the family, had obtained Nepali citizenship by claiming his Nepali mother-in-law as his own mother. His two sons, two daughters-in-law and a grandson had acquired citizenship by descent.
Gangadhar, 70, his son Kamaldev Yadav, 50, daughter-in-law Gulabidevi Yadav, 45, the other son Amarendra Yadav, 40, daughter-in-law Mamtadevi Yadav, 35, and Kamaldev's son Vivekananda Yadav, 20, have been convicted.
A bench of district judge Rita Bakhrel sentenced Gangadhar to three years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 20,000, Kamal Dev and Amarendra to two years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 each and Gulab Devi, Mamta Devi and Vivekananda to one year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 each.
Arun Kumar Yadav of Dakneshwari Municipality-2, Saptari had filed a complaint against the family alleging that they had obtained fake citizenship by submitting false details. After Arun lodged a complaint on November 3, the District Administration Office, Saptari, wrote a letter to the police on November 4 to proceed with investigation.
Gangadhar was married to Subhadra Devi of Dakneshwari Municipality-2 of Nepal 50 years ago. Later he also married an Indian woman whom he has kept in India. When Subhadra went to live with her mother in Nepal instead of going to Gangadhar’s house in Ghoghadiha of Bihar, India, Gangadhar used the name of Subhadra 's mother Bilti Devi to make a Nepali voting card for himself. Later, he even got citizenship by falsifying documents.
After receiving the complaint, local authorities found that the citizenship number 71022614 issued in the name of Bilti Devi, which was mentioned in her land ownership certificate, was submitted as one of the supporting documents.
Dalits of Saptari: Life on the brink
A sloping piece of land by the roadside in Chinnamasta Rural Municipality-5, Saptari, is inhabited by a Dom community. Eleven families of the impoverished community, considered ‘untouchables’ by ‘higher castes’, live here on a public land. In a neglected corner lies Juktidev Marik’s ‘house’.You have to enter the three-foot square house on four limbs. This shack is permanent home for 65-year-old Juktidev. He squeezes himself to sleep every night, his feet tucked under his chin. The floor is covered with hey, which is Juktidev’s bed. A dirty blanket doubles as his bedsheet. A black plastic sheet forms the roof.
Long ago, Juktidev had a little bigger hut where he raised two daughters and three sons. Both the daughters—Pramila and Susheela—were married before they were 16. The sons separated as they grew up. The shack was left to Juktidev. Fed up with abject poverty, his wife then left him 20 years ago. Juktidev’s survival depends on the food people give him out of pity.
Juktidev, however, is not alone in this hardship. All 11 families sleep on the cold floors of their bamboo shacks. According to Jayaprakash Thakur, former chief of the ward, these families don’t even have enough to eat two meals a day.
Rita Marik lives in a similar shack, which shields her from neither wind nor rain. Ditto for Pinki Devi Marik. Likewise, Gola Marik’s five-member family lives on a shack built over a pig pen. These families live with constant fear of being drenched during rains, getting charred in summer fires, or of their homes being blown away by wind.
Landowners next to the settlement want to see these families go away. They have dug big holes near the settlement where water pools, creating the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes.
Doms are Dalit people who go by the surnames of Mallik in Jhapa district, Bansfore or Marik in places east of Saptari, and Marik in Saptari. In Siraha and Dhanusha, they call themselves Mallik or Dom, and in Parsa they are known as Malli or Raut. According to the 2011 census, there are 13,268 Dom people in the country, and Saptari district has the largest Dom population of 1,871.
In terms of skills, all they can do is make bamboo crafts like supali, dhala, koia, and dhakiya. Although they are ‘impure to touch’, things they make are considered good enough to offer to the gods.
Manilal Biswokarma, author of ‘Condition of Dom and Mestar Castes in Nepal’, says the Dom community lags in all sectors of life. They are socially ostracized and jobless. Their traditional skills find no market. They are denied access to the country’s political process. Although there are laws to protect their rights, they face all sorts of discriminations. Lack of public awareness is largely to blame.
Devnarayan Marik of Chinnamasta-6 says: “Doms face the worst kind of caste discrimination. Treating us like other Dalits cannot solve the problem.”
The Dom people are unhappy that their issues are never debated, unlike those of other indigenous and Madhesi communities. “While people from these communities are ministers and parliamentarians, we don’t even have a ward chair anywhere,” rues Naresh Marik of Rajgadh Rural Municipality-2. “The government never thinks of this community although it is socially, economically, and politically most backward.”
As they don’t own any land, they don’t even have access to government support to build their own houses. “We have been living here for generations and yet we cannot build a house,” Juktidev says. “Our worth is less than that of a street dog”
Province 2 ‘martyr discrimination’
A committee comprising families of martyrs, and disappeared and injured people has warned Province 2 government of protests if the government does not ditch its ‘discriminatory’ attitude.
The committee in the south-eastern district of Saptari organized a press conference on June 29 in the district headquarters Rajbiraj to voice its opinion and issue a formal warning of protests in all eight districts of the province if its demands are not met. The following day, the committee submitted a memorandum to the chief minister as well as to the prime minister.
A press release issued by the committee states that martyrs sacrificed their lives for the country and its people, not for any political party, so the government’s discriminatory behavior is an insult to
the martyrs.
Committee chairperson Rita Chaudhary accused the provincial government of providing services and facilities only to the victims of the Madhes movements while neglecting families of the martyrs from the decade-long insurgency (1996-2006) and the 2006 people’s movement. She accused the provincial ministry of land management, agriculture and cooperatives of showing discriminatory behavior by providing cows and buffaloes only to the victims of the Madhes movements.
Provincial Minister for Agriculture and Land Management Shailendra Prasad Sah had launched the program last month by handing over a buffalo to Nirmala Raut, the wife of Rajeev Raut who was martyred in the 2015 Madhes movement. The ministry has also started giving each family a one-time sum of Rs 30,000 for the care of the cattle and the maintenance of their sheds.
Kulananda Bishwakarma, a member of a martyr family from Shambhunath municipality, demanded that the government correct its biased behavior and treat the families of all the martyrs and the injured respectfully and impartially.
He claimed that Province 2 government has called for applications only from the families of the martyrs of the Madhes movements for receiving these services, thereby depriving families of other martyrs of the same services.
As many as 20 buffalos were distributed in Maleth on June 30, and 14 buffalos were distributed in Bhardah the following day. Minister Sah informed that in the upcoming fiscal, the provincial government is planning to distribute buffalos to the families of martyrs from the Madhes movements in the districts of Saptari, Siraha, Sarlahi, Mahottari, Dhanusa, Rautahat, Bara and Parsa. Under the program, families that receive buffaloes are not allowed to sell them or give them as gifts for three years.
Minister Sah also informed that as per a decision of the provincial council of ministers, one member each of the families of the martyrs from the Madhes movements would get jobs and that appointment letters have already been handed over to them. The provincial government has also introduced a special scholarship program for the children of the martyrs, he added. Moreover, the provincial government has been providing financial assistance to the families whose members were injured during the
Madhes movements.
