A mentally retarded woman in her mid-twenties was lying unconsciously on the muddy Palpa-Gulmi road section for six hours on Saturday, while the pedestrians and vehicles passed by without taking any notice of her. [break]
It has been learnt that the woman was pregnant. But no passer-by took the trouble of even finding out whether she was dead or alive, let alone taking her to a safer place even as it was raining hard.
Even a police van that crossed the road paused for a moment and then sped away.
Former UCPN-Maoist lawmaker Narayani Sharma and other women leaders also walked the road but did not even give the helpless women a second glance. Even the Tansen municipality staffers pretended not to have taken notice of the woman. This correspondent then related the incident to Deputy Superintendent of Police Sthaneshwor Regmi, who immediately sent a police team to rescue the woman. But the police personnel deployed carried her to a nearby bus stop and left her unattended there. The police team did not bother to take her to the hospital which is merely 20 meter from the bus stop.
This correspondent then called up Chief District Officer Siva Raj Joshi and Local Development Officer Dirgha Raj Pokharel only to find that they were attending a function in Ridi to distribute fruits to the elderly people living in a shelter home.
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