Rupandehi, October 9:

Carelessness of local administration led to huge loss of lives and property in Kapilvastu riots, the National Human Rights Commission concluded.

Violence erupted in Kapilvastu after leader of Loktantrik Madhesi Mukti Morcha Abdul Moit Khan was killed at Balapur of Beerpur village development committee of Kapilvastu district on

September 16.

Delay on the part of the local administration to spring into action after murder of Khan led to the devastation, a report jointly prepared by the National Human Rights Commission central office and its Butwal contact office, after extensive field study, states.

According to the NHRC report, 13 persons were killed and 14 were hurt after the killing of Khan and property worth crores of rupees was damaged in the incident.

A copy of the NHRC report with this daily states that Kapilvastu Chief District Office Narendra Dahal and chief of Bindabasini Battalion of Armed Police Force at Beepur Chandrauta Superintendent of Police Bikash Shrestha did not give any written or oral order to security

personnel to take situation under control even though they got timely information about the troubled situation following Abdul Moit Khan’s murder.

The report is yet to be made public.

“SP Shrestha did not deploy APF personnel to control the situation. If large number of Armed Police Force personnel had been deployed immediately after the incident, much of the loss could have been averted,” the report adds.

“The Kapilvastu Chief District Officer did not give any written or oral order to security bodies to control the incident immediately,” the report states.

Khan was killed at around 8 am in the morning and a team of police led by Inspector Dharamaraj Sunuwar from the Chandrauta Area Police Office reached the site at 8:20

am but the team fled the scene to save their lives, the report adds.

It further states, most of the destruction in Chandrauta had been done by 11 am and the Armed Police Force personnel took the situation under control at Chandrauta bazaar only after 12:30 pm and the local administration clamped curfew at 1:15 pm.

The report, however, fails to point out the main culprit behind the incident.