Nepali women usually decked themselves up in colourful red saris, bangles and pote (a necklace made of glass beads) during the Teej festival (the biggest festival of Hindu women). But the women of Kanchanpur have took to the street by wearing black saris demanding justice to 13-year-old Nirmala Panta who was raped and murdered in a sugarcane farm.

Woman and men wearing black dress staged a demonstration at Madan Chowk on Wednesday morning and headed towards the market area.

“We need to celebrate Teej festival by wearing read saris today,”Manju Giri, who was injured during the protest, said, adding, “How can we celebrate the festival at a time when we have been facing such suppression.”

Giri said that she wore black dress demanding that the culprit(s) be made public at the earliest.

They have been organising various protest programmes demanding justice to Panta.

The murder mystery got murkier after Dilip Bista, the man accused in the rape and murder of Panta was released on Tuesday.

The women have also been cautioning the police administration not to be negligent in the investigation.

Police exonerated and released Bista, a mentally ill person, after his DNA did not match the victim’s vaginal swab as per the suggestion of district attorney.

Kanchanpur police had paraded Bista, a resident of Bhimdutta Municipality-19, on August 20 claiming that he was the main accused in the case.

A wave of violent protests followed Bista’s arrest. The victim’s family and the locals believed Bista was innocent and police tried to frame him to protect the real culprits involved in the heinous crime.

Along with Bista, Roshani Bam and Babita Bam, who were arrested to investigate into the murder of Panta, were also released after seeking legal advice from the District Attorney’s Office.

Nirmala was found dead in Bhimdutta-18, Kanchanpur, on July 27, a day after she was reported missing. Forensic reports showed she was raped and strangled to death.

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