Rape and murder of Nirmala Panta

On Thursday, 26 July 2018, a ninth-grade school student, Nirmala Panta of Bhimdattanagar-2, left her home to study at her friend's (family name: Bam).[1] MyRepublica reported that she went to Bam's, one and a half kilometres away from her home, at around 11 a.m., and spent three hours there. She left at around 3 p.m. but did not reach back home. Panta's family attempted to file a missing person's complaint at the local police station but were instructed to return the next morning.[2] On Friday,[3] 27 July 2018, Panta's dead body was found naked in a waterlogged sugarcane field in Nimbukheda, Bhimdattanagar-18, about 500 metres from Bam's house.[2]

Panta's body was discovered after her bicycle was spotted in the sugarcane field by the side of the road.[3] Based on preliminary investigation, the local police stated that she was murdered after being raped.[3] The CIB (Crime Investigation Bureau) team led by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Angur G.C. began the investigation upon reaching Kanchanpur, four days after the incident. Kanchanpur Police and the CIB team named a 41-year-old local man, who had previously served a nine-year jail sentence for the murder of his brother-in-law, as the suspect.[1] Police claimed that he had confessed to the crime multiple times under interrogation.[1] He was released on 12 September after his DNA did not match samples from the victim.[1] The locals, including Panta's family, launched violent protests alleging that he was innocent and maliciously framed by the police to protect the real culprits.[4] The Bam sisters, Panta's friend and her sister, were arrested on 23 August 2018, based on protesters' demand; they were also released after legal consultation with District Attorney's Office. Panta's friend was released under the condition that she should present herself to the police upon demand while her sister was released under bail of Rs 30,000.[4]

Hari Prasad Mainali, Director General of Department of Prison Management, led a committee formed on 23 August 2018, by the Nepalese government to investigate the incident. Kanchanpur Police Chief, Superintendent of Police (SP) Dilli Raj Bista and Chief District Officer (CDO) Kumar Bahadur Khadka were summoned to Kathmandu,[5] and were replaced by new officials.[6] The incident also resulted in the suspension of DSPs Gyan Bahadur Sethi and Angur GC, Inspectors Ekendra Khadka and Jagadish Bhatta, and Assistant Sub-inspector (ASI) Ram Singh Dhami, by the Ministry of Home Affairs.[7][8] On 17 September 2018, nine police officials were interrogated over their involvement in the investigation of the case, which included SP Dilli Raj Bista.[9] However, Birendra K.C. quit the Home Ministry investigation panel citing threats from the group trying to undermine the investigation.[4] As per the spokesperson of Nepal Police, SSP Shailesh Thapa Kshetri, DNA samples from SP Bista, his son, and the nephew of the mayor of Bhimdatta had been taken, together with the vaginal swab of the victim, for further investigation,[7] but none of them matched. On 17 September 2018, a new investigative committee was set up by the Nepal Police under DIG (Deputy Inspector General of Police) Dhiru Basnyat to replace the former investigation committee led by SSP Uttam Subedi.[7] On the same day, Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli asserted that the local police had derailed the investigation. He speculated that either the police had faked the investigation or had committed mistakes in the investigation.[10] The Panta family travelled 35 hours by bus to Kathmandu to draw the attention of the central government to the case.[6] Oli assured the family that the perpetrator would be prosecuted and punished irrespective of his money, power, post, or influences.[10]

On 18 September 2018, the Kanchanpur police chief SP Kuber Kathayat admitted that there was no concrete evidence, and that the investigation was ongoing. The government had earlier set up an investigative panel due to the destruction of evidence by the local investigating police after the discovery of the body of the victim.[11] DIG Dhiru Basnyat, who was appointed as the leading officer to a nine-member probe committee formed on 16 September 2018, for the new investigation, stated that the investigation would be begun anew.[12]

The Central Investigation Bureau, in December 2018, arrested one of Panta’s neighbours, from Kathmandu. One of his friends was also called to the bureau from Kanchanpur for interrogation. According to police sources, both Inspector General of Police Sarbendra Khanal and chief of the bureau Deputy Inspector General Niraj Bahadur Shahi personally interrogated both men. According to the police, they confessed to Panta’s rape and murder.[1] However, neither of their DNAs matched the sample collected from Panta’s vaginal swab, and they were both released. They have since accused the police of torturing them, a charge the police has denied.[1]

According to a report by the National Human Rights Commission, there were serious lapses in DNA collection, due to which a correct result could not be obtained.[13] The DNA sample was collected into a test tube from three layers of a vaginal swab. But the commission report says that the extraction provided an insufficient sample of the DNA, which could also have been damaged. The report also found flaws in the scientific method applied to the DNA test.[1] The commission recommended using methods of investigation other than DNA testing. Another technical committee to investigate DNA led by Jiwan Rijal also concluded that the said male component of sample taken from victim's body might be contaminated and may not be of the perpretator. It also questioned the validity of the lab's report that sperm was found in the sample.[14]

The murder sparked public outrage on social media, and public demonstrations.[6] Prime Minister Oli, in a meeting with the victim's parents and lawmakers of Sudurpashchim Pradesh, gave assurances that justice would be delivered.[10] During public demonstrations in Bhimdattanagar, one boy died in clashes with police forces.

• Nirmala Panta post-mortem report, Nayapatrika (pdf)