National
Kanchanpur rape-murder: Parents seek justice from govt
Parents of 13-year-old Nirmala Panta who was raped and murdered in Mahendranagar, Kanchanpur district, have demanded justice from the government.Parents of 13-year-old Nirmala Panta who was raped and murdered in Mahendranagar, Kanchanpur district, have demanded justice from the government.
Speaking at a programme organised at Reporters’ Club in the Capital on Thursday, the victim’s mother Durga Devi said the police administration has not been able to nab the culprit(s) even though 50 days have passed after the heinous crime.
She said government officials and human rights workers visited the incident site just to express sympathy but nothing has been done for the justice.
“Prime Minister and female President are in Kathmandu. Now, the justice is in their hands. We came in front of Prime Minister to seek justice. We want justice under any circumstances,” she said. “Our President is also a mother of two daughters. What would she do if her daughters fall prey to such incident?” She questioned. “Don’t think Nirmala is only my daughter. Try to give justice by considering Nirmala as your own daughter,” she requested President Bidya Bhandari.
“How can we return home without justice?”Durga Devi said.
She said, “If the government cannot give us justice, it will be better to kill us.”
Similarly, Nirmala’s father Yagya Raj Panta said that he never got help from the police administration to nab the culprit(s).
The government has been supporting Roshini Bam and Babita Bam even though there were evidences to suspect them, he said, wailing in tears.
He demanded a stern action against the policeman who opened fire during the protest.
A 14-year-old boy Sunny Khuna died when police opened fire on protesters after protestserupted followingNirmala’s death.
“The justice has become elusive because the police personnel destroyed evidences from the crime scene,” he said, adding, “Those involved in destroying the evidence should be brought to justice first and stern action should be taken against them.”
“We just want justice and the real culprit should be arrested at the earliest. If the government cannot give us justice it is better to kill us,” he said.
He expressed his dissatisfaction over Prime Minister KP Oli’s remarks on social sites that the government has been obstructed from carrying out investigation in Nirmala’s rape and murder.
“I had never thought that the Prime Minister would lie on social media. We were subjected to discriminatory treatment from the Prime Minister,” he said, adding, “Why don’t we get justice? We are also the citizen of this country,” he said.
Body of Nirmala was found in a sugarcane field in Bhimdutta Municipality of Kanchanpur on July 27, a day after she was reported missing. Postmortem report showed the teenager had been raped and strangulated to death.