She gets up from her bed at night and sits on the floor weeping. Almost a week after she was gang-raped on the banks of the Jabi stream near the Armed Police Force battalion in Chandrauta, Kapilvastu district, the victim is haunted by nightmares, has lost appetite and shown signs of withdrawal.

With tears in her eyes, she shows the bite marks and bruises on her body parts; they are everywhere on her cheeks, lips, neck, stomach, breast and buttocks.

On Saturday noon, hospital workers were helping the victim with lunch. She would reluctantly put a bit of rice and dal into her mouth, only to throw up immediately. The wound inside her mouth has not healed and she has difficulty swallowing salted food.

“She has been like this ever since the incident,” said her sister-in-law. “On the first day she showed enough strength to show the police where she had been dragged and where the incident had taken place but has withdrawn since.”

The speech-impaired woman was gang-raped on Sunday. The victim communicated using fingers of both her hands that she was dragged to the riverbank and raped by 10 men. She was brought to Kathmandu for treatment on Thursday. While she is getting medical attention, the investigation and subsequent prosecution of the perpetrators is not getting the due attention, rights activist say.

A Tharu single woman, she comes from a very poor family. Her brother, who supports her, is a daily wage worker. She had been admitted to a local hospital in Butwal after her neighbours chipped in some money.

“The victim is a disabled woman without influence. We are worried that evidences will be distorted and the case weakened. We want justice for her,” said Tika Dahal, vice-president of the National Federation of the Disabled Nepal.

In the wake of the incident, police arrested APF Constable Lokraj Wosti after some clothing items and a soap bar believed to belong to the APF personnel were recovered from the incident site.

The APF has said it is committed to providing justice to the victim. “We have launched our own departmental probe. We have also been cooperating with the inspection carried out by Nepal Police,” said DSP Ajay Chatkulli.

The APF has handed over its Assistant Head Constable Raju Chaudhary to the ward police office for further investigation into the case. Superintendent of Police Bishnu KC said they had arrested Chaudhary based on the statement of Wosti. 

The National Human Rights Commission has deployed a team to inspect the incident.