“We fear that the police may weaken our case,” said the victim´s, father Krishna Bahadur Tamang of Khatamma, Bhojpur. “They released the bus the day it was held and they have gotten more serious only after coming under pressure from locals,” he added.[break]
The family, which is poor, is also struggling to find the money for her ongoing treatment in Siliguri, India, which has already cost them around Rs 300,000.
Police had arrested driver of the Bhawana Travels bus (Na 2 Kha 1395) Raju Limbu, 21, of Terhathum, ticket checker Sovit Magar, 17, of Pakhribas, Dhankuta, conductor Bhuwan Gurung, 24, of Madirambeni, Sankhuwasabha, bus help Avishek Magar, 18, of Dharan-15, and bus help at another bus Drona Bahadur Rai, 27, of Itahari-5, Sunsari, from Chainpur when they were returning with the unconscious nun inside the bus cabin the next morning.
Inspector at Area Police Office Chainpur Megh Raj Thapa, however, refuted the Tamang family´s allegations. “Those arrested, excluding the but help of the other bus, have confessed to raping the nun. We have yet to record the victim´s statement and we will send an officer to Siliguri in the next few days for this purpose. We´ll file a case within the next two weeks,” Inspector Thapa assured. He said a search was also on for an old woman who was in a back seat of the bus that night. “We have asked local FM stations to request the woman to contact police and help with investigations in the case,” Thapa added.
Thapa claimed that the bus was released only because the Transportation Act doesn´t allow detention of a bus for more than 24 hours for any investigation.
The family also said that a sum of Rs 130,000 that the nun´s aunt in Kakarbhitta, Jhapa had given her for the construction of a new house in Khatamma, is also missing. “There were just two coins and a khada scarf inside her bag when the police gave it to me,” said Krishna Bahadur.
“There is mention of the amount in the complaint but the accused claim that they have not taken the money. They just had the money collected from the passengers and we gave it to the bus owner. We are investigating about the money also,” Inspector Thapa added.
Locals including civil society members and leaders of political parties had requested the transport entrepreneurs´ association with which the bus was registered, to provide expenses for the victim´s treatment and get the money reimbursed from the perpetrators after the district court verdict, but they refused to provide the money, the inspector added.
“We are holding an all party meeting with representatives of civil society and nongovernmental organizations on Wednesday morning to explore how we can help in the treatment of the victim and put pressure on the entrepreneurs,” Lakh Man Tamang, a local Maoist leader in Chainpur, said.
The 21-year-old is recovering in a private hospital in Siliguri after regaining consciousness just two days ago, according to her uncle Surya Bahadur Tamang.
The incident
The nun was returning home with Rs 130,000 from Kakarbhitta. She boarded a bus in Dharan at around 10 a.m. for Sabha Khola. She would have to cross the river by boat because of the monsoon spate, and take another vehicle to reach Khandbari by evening.
“Throughout the journey she was in constant touch with her aunt in Kakarbhitta and had said in her last communication around 6 p.m. that she may be late reaching Khandbari as the road was blocked by a broken-down tractor,” Tara Tamang, the victim´s cousin, disclosed.
The bus reached Sabha Khola late and a boat was not available for the night. “Local hotels told us that she had asked for a room for the night but all rooms were already taken,” Inspector Thapa said.
She then had supper with the bus crew at one of the hotels and apparently agreed to stay in the bus for the night as she was a nun and also because an elderly woman was also staying in the same bus, the inspector added. The bus crew apparently drugged her at the hotel before raping her in the bus. “She said they had offered her a beer which she refused and she only remembers taking a Frooty at the hotel. The Frooty must have been drugged,” her father said.
Family misfortune
The victim was the eldest of Krishna Bahadur´s four daughters. His wife is chronically ill and can´t help him much with his farming.
The nun had tried to get enrolled in Dharamshala, India last year and borrowed Rs 20,000 from her uncle and aunts for the purpose but she couldn´t get admitted as she missed the deadline by a few days. She had then returned to Nepal and was staying in Pokhara.
Krishna Bahadur had planned to build the new house after selling one of his two buffalos but both were found dead in the morning just five days before the rape incident. She was bringing the borrowed money from her aunt for the house construction. “The death of the buffaloes was a bad omen and then this happened to my daughter just days later,” Krishna Bahadur lamented.
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