The Nepal Police has taken departmental action against police officers who tried to cover up rape incident.
The Nepal Police headquarters had summoned the then chief of Sunsari Police SP Bidyanand Majhi and Inspector Chiranjivi Dahal for action on charge of trying to cover up rape of a 14-year-old girl in Royal Resort at Halgadha of Itahari-2. It has taken action against the duo on the basis of report submitted by a committee formed to probe the incident.
SP Majhi has been punished in a way that it is mentioned in his record and his grade has been delayed by a year while pay scale of Inspector Dahal has been reduced by one scale, according to Nepal Police Spokesperson SSP Shailesh Thapa.
“Police personnel who try to cover up grave crime like rape cannot be spared,” SSP Thapa stated.
The Nepal Police headquarters has also initiated probe against the police personnel accused of helping the accused of gang rape at Durbar Marg flee.
Inspector at the Metropolitan Police Circle, Durbar Marg Laxman Singh Thakuri and Sub Inspector Chandra Bhandari were suspended after the incident.
Kathmandu Police had sent a file to the District Attorney Office, Kathmandu recommending case against them and the accused in the incident. The District Attorney Office filed cases against the accused but wrote to the police for departmental action against the two police officers.
A woman had complained of gang rape by four men including Shailesh Karki, her boyfriend, at Hotel Landmark in Durbar Marg on January 21. But the officers at the Metropolitan Police Circle, Durbar Marg facilitated a financial settlement instead of registering the complaint.
The settlement of the rape case was widely condemned once it came to the fore and the two officers were suspended. Incharge at Durbar Marg Circle DSP Tilak Bharati was also transferred after the incident.