MAHAENDRANAGAR, Sep.1: Demanding that the perpetrator be booked and justice rendered in the case of their friend Nirmala Panta, girls studying in ninth grade at Saraswoti Secondary School, Bhimdatta Municipality-2 wrote an open letter to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli , Friday.

The rape and murder of 13-year-old Nirmala Panta of Bhimdatta Municipality-2 has distressed people across the country. But it is her own classmates who have been traumatized. According to them, the incident keeps haunting them and they are fearful, especially as the culprit is still at large.

"This incident has shown that girls and women are very unsafe in our society. We want the perpetrator to be booked as soon as possible," said Janaki Bhatta, Nirmala's friend since second grade. Stating that she has been unable to concentrate on her studies since the rape and murder, Laxmi Badu, another classmate, said, "Her face comes to mind when I enter the classroom."

Another student, Puja Chaudhary, says she cannot stop her eyes wandering towards the sugarcane field where her friend met her grizzly fate. "My eyes automatically stare towards the place where Nirmala's body was found," she said. She used to pass nearby that spot without any fear but now she can't walk there alone. "There are dense trees and bushes near the canal there and that scares us a lot."

The girls have demanded that the bushes near the sugarcane field be cleared away and a police beat set up there so that they can go to school without fear.

Jagganath Pandey, principal of the school, agreed that Nirmala's death has created fear among the girls. "They have started losing their concentration," he said . "They will feel better once the perpetrator is arrested."

Desperate for justice, the schoolgirls decided to write an open letter to the prime minister, reminding him that a month has passed since the rape and murder of their friend.

 
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