Home Ministry makes public high-level panel report; NHRC seeks re-investigation

Kathmandu / Oct 7: The Ministry of Home Affairs on Sunday made public the investigation report on rape and murder of 13-year-old Nirmala Pant, of Bhimdutta Municipality-2, Kanchanpur district.

The 37-page report prepared by a high-level probe committed under joint secretary Hari Prasad Mainali has blamed the police for the lackadaisical approach in handling the situation after it was informed about Nirmala’s disappearance. The report, made public at the Home Ministry website, has concluded that then police chief SP Dilli Raj Bista and Bam sisters—Anita alisas ‘Babita’ and Anchal alias ‘Roshani’—should be investigated in the case.

The five-member committee formed on August 23 had submitted the report on September 25. Earlier, the Home Ministry was widely criticised for not bringing the report out in the open.

The report states that the inner garments worn by the victim disappeared and her genital and thigh area were cleaned in an apparent bid to destroy the evidence. It has also mentioned about the letter written to change the sample of a set of blue inner garments and a brown jeans pant sent for a forensic test at Nepal Police Science Laboratory.

Nirmala was found strangled to death after rape in a sugarcane field near her house in Bhimdutta Municipality, Kanchanpur, on July 27, a day after she went missing. Local residents had resorted to the protests accusing the police negligence in the investigation and of protecting the culprit(s). Seventeen-year-old Sani Khuna was killed after police officers fired shots to contain the violent protest in Kanchanpur.

Earlier, the Home Ministry had suspended five officials, including two DSPs, as per the preliminary report tabled by the Mainali-led committee.

The government had formed the Mainali-led committee on August 23 to investigate the Crime Investigation Bureau team and the Kanchanpur Police after mentally challenged Dilip Singh Bista was arrested and declared as the culprit despite his innocence.

Earlier, the DPO had released Dilip Singh Bista, a mentally ill resident of Bhimdutta Municipality-19, in connection with the case, after 25 days in custody as the vaginal swab test of the victim did not match his profile.

Re-investigate Panta’s rape and murder scientifically: NHRC asks govt

Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) asked the government to retest DNA of the suspects in Nirmala Panta’s rape and murder case in an eight-point directive issued on Sunday.

Moreover, the human rights body issued a press release and said that it has asked the government to retest suspect’s DNA, vaginal swab of the victim and semen found in it after concluding a discussion on preliminary findings of a probe report.

The decision to issue the directives has come after stakeholders criticised NHRC for not making its probe report public.

Moreover, NHRC also suggested that the government should evaluate equipment, chemicals and resources of the laboratories used to test DNA and store vaginal swab of the victim.

Likewise, the rights body also called into question the roles of Nirmala’s friend Roshni Bam and her sister Babita Bam and suspended Superintendent of Police Dilli Raj Bista and asked government to further probe into the matter.

More than 70 days have passed since 13- year-old Nirmala Panta was raped and murdered in Bhimdutta Municipality of Kanchanpur district and still authorities have not been able to book the guilty.