Dhangadi, December 11

Nepali Congress-aligned Nepal Tarun Dal and Nepal Students Union today demanded the resignation of the home minister and Far-west Province chief minister for their failure to book the guilty in the rape and murder of 13-year-old Nirmala Panta of Bhimdatta Municipality, Kanchanpur.

Students, cadres and leaders aligned with Students’ Union, and Tarun Dal shouted slogans in front of the Office of Chief Minister and Council of Ministers in Dhangadi and also demanded the resignation of federal Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa and Chief Minister Trilochan Bhatta. They also burnt effigies of CM Bhatta. They staged rallies with posters ‘Government found, justice not’. They had also blocked the road in front of the chief minister’s office for a while. They also demanded immediate arrest of the guilty and demanded that the police stop harassing innocent people in the name of investigation.

Nepal Students’ Union Kailali Chair Bhesh Bam said it was unfortunate that the government had failed to book the guilty though four months had passed since Panta was raped and murdered. Bam accused the government of trying to shield the guilty. “The government is not trying to book the guilty but trying to frame innocent people,” he charged.  He warned of stern protest if guilty people were not booked and innocent people were framed.

Police have arrested Pradip Rawal and Bishal Chaudhary of Kanchanpur and started investigating their involvement.

Human rights activist Tulashi Devkota claimed that both Rawal and Chaudhary were innocent.

“The government has failed to book the guilty. To cover its weakness, the government is making one mistake after another,” Devkota charged. She said that they had taken to the street demanding justice for Nirmala due to the government’s apathy towards booking the guilty.