The dead body of 17-year-old Krishala Chaudhary of Triyuga-6, Udayapur was found two weeks after she went missing. It has been 10 days ever since, but the police is still clueless about what had happened.
The incident has been widely talked about — from the local level to the House of Representatives (HoR) – with authorities as well as victim’s family alleging negligence in investigation.
At the local level, various political parties and their sister organizations, human rights activists, the Tharu Welfare Association and others are demanding an impartial investigation into the incident and action against the perpetrator(s).
The local residents have accused the police of conducting neglectful investigation into the case. They suspect that Krishala was murdered after rape. Police have not yet released any information, but have arrested seven people on suspicion of their involvement in the incident.
“A meticulous investigation into the incident is underway. We have arrested seven suspects and they are being investigated,” said Bed Prasad Gautam, Spokesperson of the District Police Office, Udayapur.
Province 1 lawmaker Sunita Chaudhary in the State Assembly and lawmaker Suresh Kumar Rai in the HoR have raised this issue and demanded prompt as well as fair investigation into the incident.
Speaking at the House session, Rai requested the Speaker to direct the government to find the culprit(s) pronto and take strict action.
Meanwhile, the Tharu Welfare Association of Udayapur has also demanded that the culprit(s) be booked after fair investigation. The Association has issued a statement objecting police’s delay in releasing their findings even though a week had passed since the girl’s body was found.
They have questioned the police if they were attempting to acquit the accused by destroying the evidence by causing a delay. The statement added that the girl was suspected to have been killed after being gang-raped.
“Such heinous incident has created fear, terror and insecurity in the entire society as there is room to suspect that the girl was raped before being killed,” the statement said.
The body of Krishala, who was missing since July 28, was found in the local Rajdevi Community Forest on August 3 in a decaying state.
Local residents have warned state authorities of dire consequences if the police fail to conclude the investigation and bring the culprit(s) to justice as soon as possible. Ward Chairman of Mohanpuri, Nirmal Chaudhary, said there were complaints that the real culprit(s) might flee given the delay in investigation.
