The District Police Office at Baitadi has issued a ‘press release’ – the statement says Gauri Joshi, the one who was directly hit by the excavator’s bucket has been transferred to a Dhangadi based hospital for further treatment, and that the driver of the vehicle, a 27 year old Mr. Bohora has been arrested. Meanwhile, our question remains, what if the particular video had not been come upon the hands of Avenues TV? The other question is in similar lines to the public outcry – ‘how can you be so inhumane?’ – swinging an iron arm without any concern.
Eight people were injured, two of them seriously, when the bulldozer driver attacked them with the bucket of the vehicle in course of a dispute regarding the construction of the road. Arriving upon the cause of such behavior, apparently the driver was frustrated because the ongoing dispute was not showing signs of getting resolved.
There were two groups – one in favour of constructing the road from Sunnakhan to Parsa, another group was opposing because the proposed road ran through a Guthi land – therefore the dispute. One group wanted ‘the road’, the other ‘a house of worship’.
Meanwhile, Keshab Datta Joshi, chairman of the road construction committee, said the clash broke out after the side opposing the road construction suddenly started pelting stones at the bulldozer.
The case has attracted national attention – the power of social media. However, we cannot help but wonder, ‘what if the content had not become viral’.
