The Surkhet High Court has upheld the district court's order in the case related to the rape and murder of 16-year-old Inisha BK of Surkhet.
According to Prem Prakash Thapa, spokesperson for the Surkhet High Court, a joint bench of Judges Hari Prasad Joshi and Khemraj Bhatta ruled on Thursday that the initial order by the Surkhet District Court was lawful and upheld it in its entirety.
On March 31, the Surkhet District Court had ordered that all four accused in the case be sent to a juvenile correction home for pretrial custody. At that time, Judge Deepak Dhakal’s Juvenile Bench No. 1 ruled that the four teenagers be kept in the correction facility until the case was resolved. Following the order, they were sent to the juvenile correction home in Khajura, Banke.
Since the four individuals arrested – including a teenager alleged to be BK's boyfriend – are under the age of 18, their identities have not been disclosed. They were all students at the same school.
BK, who had left early in the morning for tuition classes, was found dead on the morning of March 7 in the Janajagaran Community Forest in Birendranagar Municipality-1. The postmortem report stated that her death was caused by excessive bleeding due to internal genital injuries sustained during the rape.
Her parents filed a formal complaint against all four individuals, accusing them of gang rape and murder. Accordingly, the District Government Attorney’s Office filed a charge sheet, claiming excessive bleeding caused by gang rape led to BK’s death.
On March 25, the District Police Office, Surkhet, had submitted its investigation report to the District Government Attorney's Office, which suggested that the rape and murder were not a collective act.
The police report concluded that only one person was involved in the rape and murder of BK. It sought a life sentence for the primary accused (alleged boyfriend) for rape and murder, while recommending charges related to homicide for the other three.
