He registered complaints at the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal (OHCHR-Nepal) besides filing separate complaints at the Chitwan and Gorkha district police offices. But his journey in search of justice has not yet ended.
“These days, six years after my son’s murder, I feel my country never dispenses justice to victims like me,” a weary Adhikari says.
He says he will never feel contented until his son’s killers are booked. “The soul of my innocent son should get justice,” he says.
Adhikari, a resident of Phujel Village Development Committee (VDC) Ward No 7 in Gorkha district, says 17-year-old son Krishna Prasad was abducted on his way to Ratnanagar by Maoist cadres. He was shot dead at Bakullar Chowk on June 6, 2004 after being put through gruesome torture at a Maoist detention center.
To Nanda Prasad’s utter consternation, police in Chitwan informed him that his son was killed in a road accident. “Sir, I am an innocent villager and I believed in what the police said. I then went to Chitwan and brought my son’s body back to Gorkha after signing all the documents the police asked me to,” he said, adding, “The body was very mutilated and bullet injuries couldn’t be traced on it.
Nanda Prasad Adhikari (center) with his wife and eldest son Nura.
Bikash Karki
Related story
NTUC demand minimum wage of workers be determined without delay
About two months after his son’s death, Adhikari was informed by people in Chitwan that his son didn’t die in any road accident but was rather killed by the Maoists after ghastly torture. He then set out on his journey to collect detailed information concerning his son’s death. He visited Ratnanagar, from where his son was abducted, and Bakullar Chowk, where he was shot dead.
“I later found out that my own neighbors, Chhabilal Poudel, Parsuram Poudel, Bhimsen Poudel, Bishnu Tiwari and others, were involved in the murder,” he says. The Poudels and Tiwari are all local Maoist cadres in Phujel.
Adhikari then filed separate complaints with the police in Chitwan and Gorkha on 11 December 2005, demanding action against the ‘culprits’ behind his son’s murder. In the complaints, he mentioned the names of those involved.
But worse was to follow. “The Maoists blocked the water supply to my house besides warning me to withdraw the case,” he said, adding, “The police remained indifferent .” Regular intimidation by the Maoists forced him to leave the village in February 2008.
He continued visiting the police in Chitwan and Gorkha every week. In Gorkha they called him in and those he accused in the murder for negotiations. “At the police station they all admitted their involvement in the murder but asked the police not to meddle into the case,” he said, adding, “The Maoist cadres are very powerful at the local level and the police didn’t want to proceed with the case.”
Adhikari was especially dismayed when District Superintendent of Police in Gorkha, Gita Upreti, said in 2007 that she couldn’t proceed with the case. DSP Upreti shifted the burden to the Chitwan district police office. Adhikari then approached Superintendent of Police Gyan Bikram Shah in Chitwan. “He (Gyan Bikram Shah) said he has already sent the case back to Gorkha,” said Adhikari, who has been living as an internally displaced person in Kathmandu along with his wife and eldest son.
Nura Prasad Adhikari , the eldest son, quit his studies half way at Prithvi Narayan Campus in Pokhara after his brother was killed. “I couldn’t complete my bachelor’s degree as my brother’s murderers threatened to kill me if the case was not withdrawn,” Nura Prasad said, adding, “I will never be able to rest until those culprits are behind bars.”
One cannot say how long the Adhikari family will have to strive in the pursuit of justice. But this story shows how the culture of impunity is taking a toll on innocent people.
ghanashyam@myrepublica.com
