Kathmandu, October 7

The National Human Rights Commission today issued an eight–point directive to the government, telling it to re-analyse and re-examine the capacity of the labs where DNA of the suspects in the Nirmala Panta’s rape and murder was tested, where the victim’s vaginal swab was stored and the suspects’ semen was tested.

NHRC a press release stating that its members discussed the preliminary findings of its probe report and on the basis of their findings it asked the government to retest the DNA, vaginal swab of the victim and the suspects’ semen. Thirteen-year-old Nirmala was raped and murdered on July 25 in Bhimdutta Municipality of Kanchanpur district and the police remain clueless about culprit(s). NHRC issued the instructions to the government after it was criticised for not making public its probe report.

The rights body stated that the government should re-examine whether the laboratories where DNA tests were conducted had adequate equipment, chemicals and resources to store vaginal swab and test semen.  The rights body also raised questions on the role of Bam sisters and suspended Superintendent of Police Dilli Raj Bista, who was chief of Kanchanpur police at the time of incident, and urged the government to probe allegations against them.

“It was found that local police did not safeguard evidence at the incident site and the evidence was found to be destroyed. Sniffer dogs were not mobilised to find culprit(s) and the chief of the district police office was not present at the incident site to coordinate investigation,” the NHRC stated.

The day Nirmala Panta went missing her mother wanted the police to search the house of  Roshani Bam and Babita (Anita) Bam, but the cops dismissed the idea.  Investigators should, therefore, treat them as suspects, the NHRC added.

The rights body stated that the victim’s family and locals were frustrated over the police probe because the scientific tests conducted by Nepal Police, which was supposed to give priority to the investigation, lacked credibility. The NHRC also demanded action against Nepal police personnel responsible for firing shots at protesters resulting in the death of Sunny Khuna. It also demanded free treatment for those injured in police firing and urged the government to ensure that nobody posed obstacles in the investigation by exerting undue pressure.