Some families that lost their loved ones during a decade-long Maoist insurgency in Kavre district do not believe that the transitional justice bodies formed to investigate into the conflict-era cases will offer them justice. Not when the persons who perpetrated the crimes like murder, kidnapping and torture are now in the government or holding an important public or political positions.

As the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons are collecting complaints of war-era crimes across the country, families of some victims say that the two commissions may hold one responsible for the war-time crime, but they will never be able to bring that person to justice.

“Nothing will happen if I register a complaint. The killer of my husband is in the government, who’s going to touch him?” said Purnamaya Lama, the widow of Arjun Lama.

Arjun was allegedly kidnapped and murdered by the Maoist rebels in 2005. Purnamaya claims that current Minister for Forests and Soil Conservation Agni Sapkota and former State Minister for Energy Suryaman Dong are among the persons responsible for her husband’s death.

In 2011, the Supreme Court had heard Purnamaya’s case and ordered police to arrest the accused.

“The court’s order was not powerful enough to put my husband’s murderers behind bars. Police tell me that their investigation is in progress, but nothing has happened really,” Purnamaya said.

In its defence, the former rebels, now UCPN (Maoist), has claimed that Arjun had died in a crossfire at Ghartichhap in 2006.

People who lost their family members at the hands of the Maoist rebels are not the only one who doubt that their closure will come through the transitional justice bodies that were formed following many a controversies and an inordinate delay of 10 years—the duration of the Maoist war itself.

The state security forces are also responsible for the deaths, disappearances and tortures of many innocent civilians during the insurgency.

Maina Sunuwar is one such victim. Maina was only 15 when she was captured by the then Royal Nepal Army personnel in February of 2004. For days, she was tortured in detention inside the Army barrack before she died. To cover up the incident, Maina’s body was buried inside the barrack. Maina’s remains were finally exhumed after two years and eight months. Then, various national and international human rights organisations had played a crucial role in finding the truth.

Following the discovery of Maina’s remains, a case was filed against Col Bobby Khatri, Cpt Sunil Prasad Adhikari, Cpt Amit Pun, and Maj Niranjan Basnet.

Maina’s mother Devi says she has no hope of getting justice from the two commissions.

“The guilty party itself is representing the commissions, so I am not putting my faith on them. But I know that I will keep on struggling for justice,” Devi said.

The widow of Arjun and the mother of Maina believe that there should be an effort from the international community and human rights bodies if they are to get justice.

According to the Local Peace Committee in Kavre, 262 persons were killed during the insurgency in the district, of them 137 were perpetrated by the state security forces and 112 by the Maoist rebels. Similarly, the state side were responsible for the disappearance of 24 persons and the Maoists for the disappearance of seven persons.