Sindhupalchowk, February 12:

The Sindhupalchowk district court today sent a rape accused to judicial custody for necessary investigation.

A bench of judge Mahesh Prasad Pudasaini issued an order to send Maila Tamang Nagarkoti of Thangpalkot VDC-2, who was accused of raping a seventh grader teenage girl, to the judicial custody for investigation.

On behalf of the plaintiff, government attorney Madhav Prasad Ghimire and advocate Bhesh Raj Dhakal demanded the accused be punished to the maximum extent possible. Advocates Punya Prasad Khanal, Mahanidhi Sedhai and Rohini Raj Joshi pleaded on behalf of the defendant and demanded the case be dismissed since the victim has already married with the accused on her wish.

However, advocate Dhakal defended that woman can choose to marry on own wish without parents’ wish only after she crosses the age of 20.

According to the charge sheet, Nagarkoti along with other persons had abducted the girl of Thangpaldhap VDC when she was on her way to home and later raped her in a house. A police source said, “The medical report of the girl showed she was raped.”