• SANDEEP LAMICHHANE RAPE CASE
KATHMANDU, AUGUST 17
Kathmandu District Court has ordered to ascertain the date of birth of the victim's mother in the case of rape accused cricketer and former captain of Nepal National Cricket team Sandeep Lamichhane.
Sandeep's lawyer Murari Sapkota informed that today, the bench of Judge Rajukumar Khatiwada ordered to ascertain the date of birth of the victim's mother.
"It was said that the hearing would continue from today. However, since the victim's mother's age has been observed differently from the victim's document, the bench has ordered to confirm the date of birth of the victim's mother", he said.
Justice Rajukumar Khatiwada of KDC gave the order saying there were two dates of birth of the victim's mother in the government's records. The judge said that only after the mother's date of birth was confirmed, would the hearing proceed.
The topic had come up before too. The birth date of the victim's mother who hails from Gaushala, Ward No 26 of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, is mentioned as 4 March 1997 in the immigration record kept by the ward office, while the date of birth of the son is 25 October 2002 and the date of birth of the daughter is 2 July 2004.
According to this record, the age gap between mother and son is six years and between mother and daughter is only eight years, which is impossible.
Meanwhile, In other documents, the date of birth of the victim's mother is mentioned as 1978.
This date is also mentioned in the migration certificate issued by the ward. Hence, it is claimed that the correct date of birth is 1978 and the year 1997 has been mistakenly mentioned in the records of the ward.
Sandeep's lawyers have submitted plenty of evidence including hospital papers and birth certificate arguing that she is already an adult.
However, the victim's lawyers said she is a minor and showed her citizenship and educational certificates.
The age dispute has become a crucial issue in the rape case in which Sandeep Lamichhane is the defendant. The victim and the plaintiff filed a case on behalf of the Government of Nepal claiming that the age of the victim is less than 18 years, while advocates representing Lamichhane have claimed that the age of the so-called victim is over 18 years.
As per the official birth registration body, it is claimed that the age of the girl called the victim was 18 years and three months at the time of the incident. However, the victim has claimed that until the date of the incident 21 August 2022, her age was less than 18 years and her date of birth is 1 June 2005. But the accused party has claimed that the date of birth of the girl is 2 July 2004, meaning that the girl's age had crossed 18 years. In the birth registration of a girl at the local level in Nuwakot, it is claimed that the date of birth of the girl is 2 July 2004.
On February 27, the Supreme Court had ordered that the case against Sandeep be withdrawn from the fast track. After that, the case was postponed and appeared for hearing several times.
The trial was adjourned after Lamichhane left for Zimbabwe to play in the World Cup qualifiers.
Hearing on the case was brought on track once again, as soon as he returned.
On September 6, the girl, who is underage as per law, along with a guardian - her elder brother - had filed a complaint against Lamichhane at Gaushala Police Circle.
She accused him of raping her in a hotel in Sinamangal, Kathmandu, on the night of August 21.
The girl had alleged that she was raped twice. As per the FIR, Lamichhane even beat her up when she refused to have intercourse. CCTV footage showed both leaving the hotel early next morning.
Lamichhane left for Kenya to participate in the Cricket T-20 series in Nairobi the same day. From there he travelled to the West Indies to participate in the Caribbean Premier League.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 18, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
