Ex-police constables Purna Bahadur Malasi of Doti and Narjung Shahi of Humla inflicted the injuries to their wrists early Friday saying they don´t see any meaning in their lives. [break]
Human rights leader Padma Ratna Tuladhar, Chief District Office, District Police Chief, local leaders of several political parties and civil society visited the prison Friday and urged the mutineers to halt their suicidal protests.
But the protesters said they would not stop protesting unless the “fabricated case” of armed revolt that they face is not quashed. The two self-injured mutineers have refused to
undergo treatment despite being requested to undergo treatment.
“We have faced injustice from the state. No one listens to our demand. It´s better to die that rot in prison,” said former Sub-Inspector Trilok Chand.
The 18 mutineers being kept at Dhangadhi jail for the last 18 months after a mutiny in the Riot Control Police Battalion in Nepalgunj on July 12, 2008, are demanding respectful reinstatement in the police force.
Tuladhar urged the mutineers not to inflict injuries upon themselves and urged them to end the hunger strike too, promising to take their demands to the government. But the protesters did not relent.
The protesters are also angry because they have not received the 25 percent of their salary as provisioned in the Police Act for suspended staff.
Chief District Officer Hari Krishna Poudel assured them that they would get the money within three days, but to no avail.
“We fought for ten years,” said self-injured Shahi. “We have been imprisoned for 18 months now illegally.”
The ex-policemen say they are being made to rot indefinitely in prison by not letting the legal process move ahead.
In July, 2008, 45 policemen staged a mutiny claiming that there was widespread corruption in the battalion.
A special court formed to look into the matter ordered that they be kept in judicial custody. Of the 45, 18 are in Dhangadhi prison, while 27 are in Dang prison. The future of the 45 became uncertain after the special court was dissolved.
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