Man alleges discrimination and violation of his rights by local community over his religious choice

Pratiman Pokhrel from Lhayuel village in Sarpang is desperate to get justice for being treated as an outcast and discriminated by his own extended family and community only because he is a Christian in a village of mainly upper caste Hindus.

He claimed that he was not allowed to perform the final funeral rites of his late mother in 2014, and that his cousins, in the name of his late mother, grabbed the land that was his.

He has lodged a complaint with the police and has appealed to the court with regard to the discrimination he is facing.  However, he couldn’t register the case with the court which asked him to file a police complaint first on the discrimination. He said the police instead asked him to sort out the issue with the Gewog. He said the Gewog Administration tried to sort it out, but they have failed as well and instead the Gup favored the community.

He said the treatment he is receiving is painful, unbearable and unfair, as he is discriminated by the whole community. He added that his community has also effectively banished him.

Pratiman Pokhrel shared that without his own independent house in his village, he has had to share his census with his uncle who has two daughters.

In 2019, he had visited his village with some personal work and stayed over at one of his cousin’s place for a night. The very next day, right after his return to Thimphu, the village Tshogpa gathered some of the villagers and harassed his cousin for letting him stay with them.

He said, “I used to visit my village frequently but that was the first time I have seen that happening. I called the Gup, and he said it was doing of the Tshogpa and villagers, after which they officially issued a letter asking my cousin to perform a ritual ceremony to purify himself and his house.”

He said this purification is just a ruse to ensure that no villager in his own village allows him in their house. He said this is discrimination against him and a violation of his Constitutional rights.

In March, he wrote to the Gewog Office for justice, but to no avail. He then appealed to Sarpang Court and police in connection to the boycott and discrimination he is facing from his community for no reason, but none of the authorities took up the case. Nonetheless, he has written to the Hindu Dharma Samudaya and recently to the Prime Minister’s Office.

He further said that the community has now accused him of not carrying out final funeral rites of his late mother in 2014, and that his later mother, before her death, has left behind a will stating that her final rites will be done by her nephew and that all the properties is to be transferred to the nephew.

“On the day when I lost my mother, they forcefully took her body and also took all the properties which belonged to my mother and a portion of a land which was mine. I appealed to the court to get back my land and not the other properties,” he added.

He is convinced that the Tshogpa and his late mother’s cousin brother have conspired against him so he was stopped from performing the final funeral rites or inheriting his mother’s properties with the false will.

He further said that although the court asked for the will left behind by his late mother, however, his cousin could not submit the will to court as evidence.

“Later, they again changed their statement before the court of law. They said I have given, in written, stating that it was I who willfully did not take my mother’s body, that I don’t want any of my mother’s property and that I will never enter anyone’s house,” he said.

This is the reason why they took over the land, they claimed to the court. The court again asked for the letter, but they did not have it. Thus Pratiman Pokhrel won the case. The court verdict ensured that the land returned to him, but his relatives made sure that they uprooted all the cardamom plants growing in the land.

In 2014, the talk was only on the will and property. There was no talk of religion, however, after 7 years, he is now accused of being a Cristian, Pratiman Pokhrel added.

He said, “I would have cremated my mother’s body, had the body been given to me. There are changes in every statement they make. I am being discriminated, which is not right and I am mentally tortured. I am on medication for depression and this can be verified with JDWNRH.”

Meanwhile, a source from the police said that they have received the case, and accordingly they have consulted with the legal people and the community. However, it did not qualify as a criminal offence.

During the preliminary investigation it was found that the community strictly follows a culture and tradition, wherein if a person changes their religion then their place has to be purified.

The police asked Pratiman Pokhrel to appeal to relevant agencies.

Gup Bishnu Prasad Rai shared that whatever allegation Pratiman Pokhrel made is a false allegation. “He is not accepting his fault. We have tried to compromise and solve the issue, but we couldn’t. We asked him to approach the higher authority and if need be, we were ready to render our help. We were just following our culture,” he added.

Further, it is alleged that Pratiman Pokhrel was not ready to perform the Hindu funeral rites of his mother, and that he even did not perform the last funeral rites of his father claiming that he has changed his religion.

Here Pratiman refuted them saying he was ready to cremate his mother as per proper rituals, and he was not involved for his late father as the father had abandoned them at a young age and lived separately with no connection to him. Pratiman instead said the Gup was not fair and took the side of the local community due to electoral considerations.