Families of Rukum victims file complaint against 20 perpetrators

JAJARKOT, May 27: The family members of the victims of the Jajarkot incident have filed a complaint against 20 perpetrators at the District Administration Office.

Nabaraj BK, 21, accompanied by 18 friends, had reached Soti of Chaurjahari municipality to bring his 17-year-old girlfriend as his bride on Saturday. But the girl’s family and neighbors, who were against their relationship, had attacked them and chased them toward the Thulo Bheri river, border between Jajarkot and Rukum. Some of them had dived into the river to save their lives.

Nabaraj, who hailed from Bheri municipality-4 of Jajarkot and one of friend Tikaram Sunar from Chaurjahari municipality-8 of Rukum were found dead in the river bank next morning. The body of Ganesh Budha, who is also from Bheri municipality-4, was found on Monday.

At least 12 sustained injuries while Lokendra Sunar and Govinda Shahi of Bheri municipality-11 and Sandip BK of Bheri municipality-4 are still missing in the river. A search for them is still underway.

According to eyewitnesses, some of the youths had jumped into the river to save their lives after they were attacked.

The victims’ family have filed an FIR against Chaurjahari municipality Ward 8 Chair Dambar Bahadur Malla, the girl’s father Bir Bahadur Malla, the girl’s mother Prakashi Malla, Santosh Malla, Ramesh Malla and Mahesh Punmagar, among others.

Dalit rights activists and the victims’ families have submitted a memorandum to the DAO Jajarkot demanding an impartial investigation into the incident, compensation to the victims’ families, free medical treatment to the injured and intensifying search for the people gone missing in the incident.

The victims’ families have agreed to take the dead bodies after Chief District Officer of Jajarkot, Janak Raj Panta, gave assurances of taking the necessary initiatives with the related bodies for fulfilling their demands and meeting the demands.

According to Panta, the post-mortem examination of Tikaram Sunar has been done while the same of two others would be done today.

It is said the search teams are facing difficulty in the search for the missing due to the lack of technical resources including divers.

The government has formed a five-member probe committee to investigate into the incident. The committee has been mandated to submit the report within a month.

The Rukum Police has deputed Police Inspector Kabi Roka for investigating into the incident.

He said an investigation has been started by taking 12 people including the Ward Chair Malla into custody.

“It cannot be said at this moment whether the people were killed deliberately or died while running away to save their lives. The reality will gradually be known after a thorough investigation,” Roka said.

(With input from RSS)