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Villagers turn against mother, daughter for filing rape case

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KHANIGAUN, NUWAKOT, July 18: For an HIV infected woman of Khanigaun-1, life turned into an ordeal ever since the diagnosis because, after her disease became known, the villagers started to treat her like an untouchable.

Even after the death of her husband from the disease and the loss of her home in the April 25 earthquake, she had been braving the fate along with her mentally ill daughter.


But after her 15 years old ward was raped on June 16 by a sixty-year-old neighbor, Bishnu Bahadur Khadka, she has started to look at life as nothing but a series of bitter experiences.

According to the mother, the disabled kid would often go to Khadka's house where she would be given chocolates and biscuits. On June 16, the girl hinted to her mother and her teachers that she was having a "special relationship" with the 60 years old man.

When the mother went on to question the neighbor, Khadka said that he'd only touched her.

But things took ugly turn, when she filed a case at the District Police Office at Bidur with the help of the girl's teacher. The whole village turned against her, threatening to kill her. "The villagers surrounded our house and started harassing us," said the mother. "They asked me to drop the case saying such matters should be resolved by the villagers themselves."

The mother and her daughter are currently seeking support from Trishuli Plus Organization after they were rescued by social worker Sharmila Uprety. As the case has already been filed, the police are preparing to launch an investigation against Khadka.

But seeking justice has not been easy for the victims.

"The villagers had tried to attack us saying that a person who files rape charges based on the claims of a retarded 15 years old girl has no right to stay in the village," said the mother.

According to Pradhyumna Adhikari, an officer with the Nuwakot Police, a team of police has been deployed to provide security to the duo to protect them from enraged villagers.



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