National
Court extends remand of Bam sisters by a week
The Kanchanpur District Court on Thursday extended judicial remand of Roshani Bam and her sister Babita Bam, who were detained in connection to the rape and murder of 13-year-old Nirmala Panta, by seven days. They were earlier remanded tosix-day custody following their arrest on August 24.Bhawani Bhatta
The Kanchanpur District Court on Thursday extended judicial remand of Roshani Bam and her sister Babita Bam, who were detained in connection to the rape and murder of 13-year-old Nirmala Panta, by seven days. They were earlier remanded to
six-day custody following their arrest on August 24.
A single bench of Judge Rajendra Kumar Acharya ordered to remand the Bam sisters for the second time. The District Police Office presented them before the court to seek remand extension, stating that investigation into the case is still going on. “Judicial remand of the Bam sisters was extended on the basis of progress of the investigation and possible time to complete investigation,” said Hari Krishna Awasthi, the registrar at the court.
Nirmala, a resident of Bhimdutta Municipality-2, was found dead in a sugarcane field in Bhimdutta-18 on July 27. A forensic report showed she had been raped and strangulated to death.
Local residents of Mahendranagar, who have been protesting after the incident demanding justice for Nirmala, believe that the Bam sisters have crucial leads on the real culprits. Protests flared up after police presented Dilip Bista, a mentally challenged man, as the main suspect on August 20, much to the disbelief of the Kanchanpur residents.
“Investigation is going on into the case,” said Superintendent of Police Kuber Kadayat, adding that statement of the Bam sisters would be recorded soon.
Locals question investigation
Local people harbour doubt over the investigation, fearing that the previous police team destroyed the evidence related to the case. They accused police of cleaning the victim’s trousers recovered near the incident site. They claimed the act of felling a guava tree in front of the Bam house and painting the house after the incident was suspicious.
Following protests in Mahendranagar and across the country, the Home Ministry called the then chief district officer, superintendent and deputy superintendent of police and sent a new police team to probe the case.
“Police started destroying the evidence soon after the crime. Why should the security personnel clean the victim’s clothes instead of protecting it for investigation?” said a local.