Caste, Love, and Murder

21-year-old Nabaraj was a popular volleyball and track athlete in his home village of Jajarkot in mid-western Nepal. Nabaraj was part of the Dalit caste, known as the “untouchable” caste. 

In 2018, Nabaraj fell in love with 17-year-old Sushma Malla, an upper-caste teenager. The pair had professed their love and intention to get married. Sushma’s parents were against the relationship because of their caste differences. Her family had assaulted  Nabaraj twice to stop the forbidden relationship. At this point Nabaraj’s family had also requested him to stay away from Sushma, fearing for his life. 

In Nepal, caste-based discrimination is a criminal offense. The family of Sushma Malla had to use an alternative strategy to prohibit the two from getting married.  

Sushma’s parents and fellow villagers complained to the local Police Station that Nabaraj was trying to marry an underage girl. As per Nepali law both the bride and the groom must be at least 20 years of age to be eligible for marriage. 

Nabaraj was arrested, but released from custody on condition that the two would not proceed with their marriage plans.

2 years later, on May 21st, 2020, Sushma called Nabaraj and warned him that she would be married off to another man in four days; and she pleaded for him to come and rescue her.  Nabaraj shared the story with his close friends. 

Nabaraj felt compelled to help Sushma and traveled to her village. 

Sushma’s father and brother saw Nabaraj and his friends in a neighboring district but did not react, but when they reached Sushma’s home, things took a turn for the worse. The villagers turned against them. 

Sensing the trouble, Nabaraj and his friends decided to leave to avoid trouble. Just as they started to leave, the villagers began chasing them and that’s when an attack pursued.

Nabaraj and his friends were detained and taken to police custody, the attackers were not even questioned. Furthermore, the police turned down the request made by the detainees to find six of their missing friends. 

A day later Nabaraj and one of his friends' bodies were found on the banks of a local river.  The bodies of three other friends were recovered on May 25th and finally, the body of another friend was found on June 2nd. 

12 people were arrested for the crime on May 26th, 6 others were arrested on May 28th. On June 4,  7 more were arrested. 

A total of 28 people were arrested with 20 being the prime suspects in the murder and 8 others for additional investigation. 

The murders instigated large Dalit activist protests in Nepal and triggered a sensational stream of events- the parliamentary committee on Law and Justice asked to create another cell to investigate and deal with caste-based discrimination. 

On December 5th, 2023, the District Court of Rukum sentenced 23 defendants to life in prison for the murder of Nabarak BK and his friends. 

Strangely, Sushma herself was convicted for caste-based discrimination, and suffered imprisonment for two years and fined Rs. 50,000. Nabaraj’s girlfriend in her interview claimed that she had only taken him as a friend and later claimed they weren’t in conversation for two months ago and had a break-up. 

There is another voice record attributed to Sushma where she agrees she was the girlfriend of Nabaraj. It seems she was sucked into the chaos trying to save her family.