The parliamentary committee formed to investigate murder of six youths including Navaraj BK in Chaurjahari-8, Rukum on May 23 has concluded that the caste-motivated incident was planned by the ward chairman at behest of the girl's mother.
Six youths of Jajarkot were killed when Navaraj, 21, of Bheri municipality 4, Jajarkot went with 18 others to elope with his 17-year-old girlfriend of Chaurjahari-8, Soti on May 23. The bodies were later recovered from the Bheri river at the border of Jajarkot and Western Rukum
"The incident was planned and organized under leadership of Ward Chairman Dambar Bahadur Malla at behest of the girl's mother," member of the probe committee Min Bahadur Bishwokarma told Setopati after the committee led by Devendra Paudel submitted its report to Speaker Agni Sapkota on Tuesday. "Around 100-200 persons seemed to have encircled the youths within half an hour in an area where there was no house."
The report has concluded that the main reason for the incident was caste discrimination and untouchability pointing that the boy was a dalit and the girl Malla.
The report mentions that the girl's father acknowledged inside the jail that the family was aware of the inter-caste relationship of his daughter and regretted with teary eyes that many villagers have been jailed due to his efforts to try to 'correct his out-of-line daughter.'
The report points out that the ward chairman called police only after the incident and slams the police for its incompetence. "The police seem to have arrested the injured youths but not the attackers," lawmaker Bishwokarma quoted the report as stating. "A body was recovered on the day of the incident. The police ignored for 18 hours despite the injured youths saying that their friends are missing."
The report says there was no urgency from the police that should have acted responsibly. "They didn't seem to have searched for bodies and attackers, and were found wanting in investigation, and securing and the crime scene."
