Madhesi protesters throw a petrol bomb at police in Birganj. Violent protests have erupted in Gaur and other Tarai towns as well.
Violent protests over President Bidya Bhandari's Janakpur visit, followed by controversial purification of Janaki temple, have threatened to widen the rift between the government and the agitating Madhesi Morcha.
The government has taken strong exception to misbehavior with President Bhandari, saying it is 'an attack on the country, democracy and republicanism' and 'actions will be taken against hooligans'.
A day after a late night cabinet meeting decided to show zero tolerance towards misbehavior with the head of the state, the Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday formed a high-level panel to probe the Janakpur incident. The four-member panel led by Joint Secretary Binod KC has been directed to submit its investigation report within one week.
Meanwhile, police in Janakpur on Monday arrested three local men for vandalising Janaki temple when President Bhandari visited there.
President Bhandari had reached Janakpur last week to offer prayers at Janaki temple on the occasion of Vivah Panchami – a religious festival that marks the anniversary of the mythical marriage between the Hindu god Ram and the goddess Sita.
Cadre of the Morcha, which had earlier threatened to stop President Bhandari from visiting Janakpur, staged demonstrations, waved black flags and hurled stones as well as petrol bombs targeting the carcade.
The Morcha cadre cleaned Janaki temple with 'holy water' the next day, saying President Bhandari's entry had made it 'unholy'.
Some news reports quoted local Morcha leaders as saying 'President Bhandari was a widow and she was not allowed to enter the holy temple premises'. Some Madhesi protesters even disgraced her on social networking sites.
Leaders of ruling as well as opposition parties have criticised the Morcha's disrespectful behavior with President Bhandari. Women rights activists have also come down heavily on the Morcha for disrespecting Nepal's first woman head of the state.
But the Morcha leaders have accused the government of manipulating the temple cleaning, saying it was needed because 'army personnel with boots and dogs had entered into the holy area'. Morcha leader Upendra Yadav said: "No widow has ever been barred from entering Janaki temple. So the accusation that the temple was cleaned because President is a widow is baseless."
Madhesi leaders have justified that they tried to prevent President Bhandari from visiting Janakpur because 'she is the head of a state against which they have been agitating for the last four months'.
Meanwhile, the Morcha has intensified protests against the new constitution in Madhes. Madhesi protesters have defied curfew imposed by the local administration after the death of a demonstrator in Gaur. They have also set a police post on fire.
Although the Morcha has vowed to sit in talks with the government only in Madhes, both sides met in Kathmandu on Monday. The government informed the Morcha about its decision to settle demarcation row in three months, but the Morcha said 'that was not sufficient to call off agitation'.
Indian ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae also met Morcha leaders in Kathmandu on Monday. But details about what transpired between them are unknown.