RAUTAHAT, DECEMBER 6

Locals of Durga Bhagawati Municipality, Rautahat, staged a demonstration today accusing police of helping a motorbike rider involved in a fatal accident flee.

Kin of Santa Kumar Jha of Matsari, Durga Bhagawati Municipality, who died in a motorbike accident recently, along with locals of Matsari demonstrated against police by burning tyres on the Gaur-Pipara road section from early morning today.

Sixteen-year-old Santa Kumar was seriously injured when he was hit by a motorbike near Sanskrit Secondary School at about 3:00pm on Saturday afternoon. After initial treatment at the local Bagmati Health Care, he was sent to Kathmandu, where he died in the course of treatment later that night.

According to locals, Sunrise Bank Durga Bhagawati branch security guard Rabindra Sah had caused the accident and fled with the help of police.

'We had identified the person causing the accident with the help of CCTV footage. We thought police would arrest him; instead, they helped him escape,' said a member of the victim's family, accusing police of Gangapipara Area Police Office of helping the guilty to flee.

Meanwhile, vehicular movement on the road resumed after more than four hours following an agreement between the police and locals. The agreement has it that the person causing the accident would be arrested immediately, and police would take initiatives to provide compensation for the death and take departmental action against police personnel who were in the wrong.

Rautahat police SP Binod Ghimire said the person causing the accident had been identified and would be detained soon.

Following the agreement, the body of the accident victim was cremated in his home district today itself. Deceased Jha was a ninth grader at the local Sanskrit Secondary School.

A version of this article appears in the print on December 7, 2021 of The Himalayan Times.