Sit-in at Singha Durbar gate demanding justice for Nirmala Panta

Setopati

2018-10-04 12:48:20

A sit-in was staged at the southern gate of Singha Durbar Thursday demanding action against those involved in the rape and murder of 13-year-old Nirmala Panta of Bhimdutta of Kanchanpur. The campaigners including Rage against Rape and Justice for Nirmala held a sit-in at the prohibited zone of Singha Durbar at 11 am Thursday. They chanted slogans demanding resignation of Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa and IGP Sarbendra Khanal take leave for fair investigation of the case. The body of 13-year-old Panta of Bhimdutta municipality 2, who had gone to a friend’s home for study on July 26, was found at a sugarcane field the next day. The parents of Nirmala Panta have already met Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and IGP Khanal and urged them to find out the murderer of their daughter. Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa has also conceded police negligence in preliminary investigation of the case. Dilip Singh Bista, 41, who was arrested by the police for his alleged involvement in the case, has been released after his DNA did not match with samples collected from body of Nirmala Panta. DNA of the suspended SP Dilli Raj Bista, his son Kiran and Aayush Bista, nephew of Mayor of Bhimdutta municipality Surendra Bista also did not match with the samples. Meanwhile, Home Minister has recently said that the case was unnecessarily politicized whereas PM KP Sharma Oli said that it may take some 12 years to find out the murderer.