Kathmandu, February 20

A third semester student of Bachelor of Information Management at Minibhawan-based Nepal Commerce Campus was arrested on charge of raping a junior student, after the girl filed a police complaint of being raped on Wednesday morning last week inside a college classroom.

Lokesh Dhakal, 21, was arrested on Saturday evening by the Metropolitan Police Circle after the girl filed the first information report against Dhakal, four days after she was allegedly raped by her senior. They both had known each other for a few months and used to communicate through Facebook.

Dhakal was a BIM third semester student and the girl was a first semester student of Bachelors of Business Administration-Finance.

Their classes were adjoined.

On Wednesday morning, they had met at around 5:55am near the campus gate, according to their Facebook chat. Classes were scheduled to begin from 6:30am. NCC Principal Jeevan Kumar Bhandari, quoting the girl, said the boy had asked the girl to lend her geometry scale as it was his internal examination that day. Both entered Dhakal’s classroom on the first floor of the three-storey college building.

Quoting the girl, Principal Bhandari said, “The girl was busy finding the scale in her bag when the accused seized the opportunity and locked the classroom’s door, closed the curtains and then raped her.”

The shocked 18-year-old went to the bathroom and found herself bleeding, according to the principal. The girl’s classmates told THT that she attended all classes that day, but remained absent from the next day.

The girl, along with her three other friends had called the college administration on Saturday evening and notified the principal and other members of the college management about the incident. The college management after learning about the incident called the police, according to the principal.

Talking briefly to THT over telephone, the girl said she was facing immense pressure from Dhakal’s family to reconcile.

“But I will not backtrack despite all the pressure I am facing now,” the girl said in a brief conversation. Supporters of the girl in the college said there were lots of people representing Dhakal’s family on college premises and they were mounting pressure on the management to settle the case within the college.

Parents of accused Dhakal said although they both had indulged in cuddling and kisses that morning, the girl’s accusation was driven by the ego of her failure to make him her boyfriend. Dhakal’s girlfriend, who claimed to be in relationship with him for the last three years, said she had access to Dhakal’s Facebook and chat conservation between the girl and Dhakal suggested the she was trying to seduce him.

“The girl had said that she was attracted to him and was jealous about our relationship.

So, I strongly believe she was trying to frame him,” Dhakal’s girlfriend said. She, however, also did not rule out physical relationship between them that day.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Durga Raj Regmi, head of MPC, Baneshwor, said, “We will get a lead into the investigation after we obtain medical report of the girl and digital report of the CCTV cameras placed on the college premises.”

There were two CCTV cameras in the corridor of the college building and two additional inside the classroom.

The college administration said cameras were installed to monitor activities of students.

A college staffer, on condition of anonymity, said the cameras recorded activities of four days only.

Since the complaint was filed on the fourth day and the police recovered the footage on the fifth day, it was unlikely that CCTV footage would be useful to them, he said. DSP Regmi, however, said there were still chances of recovering the required data.