A high level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Dr. Bhattarai on December 30, 2012 had formed an eight- member committee under the coordination of Rajuman Singh, Secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister for the monitoring and investigation of various cases of violence against women.[break]
The committee was given responsibility to monitor and investigate the rape case against Sita Rai from Bhojpur district at Immigration Department at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), suspicious deaths of Saraswoti Subedi from Anamnagar, Shiva Hasami from Bardiya, Bindu Thakur of Bara, and missing case of Chhorimaiya Maharjan.
Receiving the report, Prime Minister Dr. Bhattarai said the serious nature of violence against women had increased in the country due to feudalistic and patriarchal thinking and that the government was committed to controlling such cases.
He said the heinous crimes that took place from the government employees were grave criminal acts and that the government will implement the Committee report immediately. He expressed his commitment that the government would begin the reforms by forwarding severe actions against the guilty.
The report has concluded that there have been negligence on forwarding the cases against Immigration Investigation Officers Ram Prasad Koirala and Tikaraj Koirala for the victim woman had filed petition seeking justice. The report says Former Director General of the Immigration Department, Suresh Adhikari, and Director Lekhnath Pokhrel, have also been seen responsible in the incident and that they should be taken necessary legal action.
In the report, the Committee has suggested to stop the use of mobile sets and install CCTV and record the activities up to three months to make the immigration activities more transparent.
Similarly, the committee, from the study of postmortem report, concluded that Subedi was hanged to death, saying no proof was revealed to justify Subedi´s physical relations with the accused Krishna Prasain.
In the case of Thakur, the committee suggested further investigation on the deceased´s father and other persons in connection with their involvement in her murder.
The committee found police investigation weak and suggested immediate action against the officials involved in the investigation of Hasami´s case, whereas it suggested further investigation into the missing of Chhorimaiya Maharjan and claimed that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has started investigation as per the committee´s directive.
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