Nonetheless, the police arrested one of the four accused - Lakshi Ram Gharti Magar, a resident of Dwari VDC of Dailekh, on January 4. In the next couple of days, the police, based on the preliminary statement of Lakshi Ram, nabbed four more people - Hari Lal Pun (Dwari), Bir bahadur KC and Nirak Gharti Magar (Baluwatar) and Jay Bahadur Shahi (Raniban). [break]
To many, the multiple arrests made by the Dailekh police in connection to the Dekendra Thapa murder case were unexpected. But, however sudden the arrests might have looked, these were simply not unexpected. In fact, these arrests were the results of relentless struggle of Thapa´s wife backed by Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) and human rights organizations.
FIGHT FOR JUSTICE
When Thapa, who was then working as a Dailekh-based Radio Nepal reporter, was ´buried alive´ on August 11, 2004, Laxmi had just one demand: the Maoists allow her to exhume her husband´s body so that she could perform the final rites as per the Hindu tradition.
Laxmi Thapa. (Photo: Kalendra Sejuwal)
With the support of journalists and human rights activists, Laxmi managed to have her husband´s dead body exhumed. Then, she embarked on a years-long journey to put her husband´s murderers behind the bars. Emboldened by the support lent by the FNJ, she lodged a case against four, including Lakshi Ram.
Three of the accused named by Laxmi - Bam Bahadur Khadka (Katti), Bam Bahadur Khadka (Chhiudipusakot) and Kesav Khadka - are still at large, though. Hari Lal, Bir Bahadur, Nirak and Jay Bahadur, who were nabbed following Lakshi´s arrest, were initially not identified by Laxmi.
However, the Dailekh police did not show concerns for arresting Thapa´s killers. Even when the accused walked freely in Dailekh bazaar, the police always turned a blind eye to them.
“Even as we assured the police that we would extend all our support to them, they did not bother about arresting the perpetrators,” says Bishnu Sharma, former president of the Dailekh FNJ, who played a key role in negotiating with local Maoist leaders to get Thapa´s dead body exhumed during the war. “But, we did not give up; nor did Laxmi.”
On December 12 last year, Laxmi, with the support of Advocacy Forum, an NGO, filed a writ petition at the Appellate Court, Surkhet, seeking reasons why the Dailekh police did not arrest those accused of killing her husband for so many years.
In response to the writ petition, the court ordered the police to nab the accused within 15 days. Meanwhile, SSP Madhav Prasad Nepal, chief of the Bheri Zonal Police Office, visited Dailekh. Laxmi and local journalists took SSP Nepal´s visit as an opportunity to press for the arrest of Thapa´s killers.
SSP Nepal instructed DSP Sharada Prasad Chaudhary to arrest the accused straight away. And, DSP Chaudhary appointed Inspector Binod Sharma as an investigation officer for Thapa´s murder. Locally regarded as a fearless officer, Sharma quickly nabbed Lakshi and then four others.
Laxmi is now hopeful that she will get justice from the court. But, she says she does not want her husband´s killers slapped with life-imprisonment. “They (the accused) also have their families. I don´t want them to die in prison,” says she. “I just want to know who ordered them to kill my husband. I just want the truth revealed. I am ready to forgive the accused if they admit their crime and say sorry.”
Laxmi has also demanded that her husband be declared a martyr. “My husband lost his life while fighting for the rights of the villagers,” says she. “He deserves to be known as a martyr.”
Thapa was abducted while returning from Toli VDC near the district headquarters of Dailekh on June 26, 2004. He had gone there to negotiate with the Maoists after the latter cut a drinking water pipe to Dailekh bazaar.
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