Kathmandu, July 20:

Inter-party Women’s Alliance (IPWA) today demanded the government

to form an independent committee to investigate into the murder of a woman, who was allegedly killed by her husband, in Kanchanpur.

“The government should form a probe committee and bring out the facts about the murder of Laxmi Bohara to the public,” said Uma Adhikari, Inter-party Women’s Alliance president, addressing a function organised here today.

The demand came after a weeklong hunger strike by the Struggle Committee to End Violence against Women, calling on the government to probe into the murder.

The committee has accused Laxmi’s husband Tek Raj Bohara and her mother-in-law of poisoning her on May 6. Following the murder, Tek Raj was initially sentenced to jail but was released on bail later, the Struggle Committee to End Violence against Women said.

Claiming that he was not behind the murder, Tek Raj has claimed that his wife had committed suicide.

Human rights defender Sharda Chand from Kanchanpur and president of National Alliance of Women Human Rights Defenders Dr Renu Rajbhandari said the National Human Rights Commission and the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights should immediately probe the case.