Bohara stated that the Mahendranagar Appellate Court on April 28 reversed the decision of the Baitadi district court to convict her rapists and to slap 13-year jail and Rs 50,000 fine on each of them.

Bohara was raped in March 2012 while she was attending her School Leaving Certificate exams. Sagar Bhatta, one of the rapists, owned a book shop where Bohara had reached to buy sample papers. The other rapist was Amar Awasthi.

A division bench of Judges Nar Bahadur Shahi and Ramesh Rajbhandari had argued that Bohara’s statement was not in line with the findings of the investigation.

Minister Acharya, in his letter, told Bohara that he has asked Judicial Council Chairman Chief Justice Ram Kumar Shah to look into the matter. The JC has already taken up the matter after it was reported in the media in June that the duo had let off the convicts.

The constitutional body transferred them from Mahendranagar to Dipayal (Shahi) and Surkhet Appeal Court (Rajbhandari). Rajbhandari had visited CPN-UML headquarters in Balkhu following his appointment as an appellate court judge while Shahi is a former central committee member of the Nepal Bar Association.

In his response, Acharya informed Bohara that the government has made preparations to amend the Muluki Ain as she had suggested.

Bohara argues that since the court has given a clean chit to her rapists it was difficult for her to face society. As the criminals have been acquitted, she fears that the people would blame her. She has pleaded with the minister to prepare the legal ground for handing out death penalty to rape convicts.