Kin, lawyers say penalty ‘lenient’

KATHMANDU, DEC 22 -
The Kathmandu District Court’s ruling on Friday in the case involving Sita Rai has sent out a “wrong message” about our justice system which may discourage victims of state-sponsored rape and robbery in future, said lawyers involved in the case.

The court handed down one year jail sentence to Head Constable Parshuram Basnet and non-gazetted officer Som Nath Khanal on the charge of “robbing and sexually exploiting” a 21-year-old migrant worker returning from Saudi Arabia last year, but acquitted Tikaram Pokharel and Ram Prasad Koirala—section officers of the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) Immigration.

Lawyers said the duo’s acquittal has provided grounds for high officials to get away with their involvement in crimes, emboldening the TIA officials. They said the verdict has also encouraged others to continue with heinous crimes such as rape in the days to come.

“Khanal confessed to the court that the amount they took from Rai was distributed equally among the top officials, including Pokharel and Koirala. Even money exchanger Hari Ghimire told the court that he had exchanged 3,900 Saudi riyals from Khanal,” Sita’s lawyer Laxmi Rai told the Post.

As per the existing legal provision, a person convicted in a fraud case will get up to five years in jail. “I don’t understand why the court acquitted the two officials,” she said. Basanta Basnet, a lawyer who has closely followed the case, accused the government prosecutor of weakening the case against the officers from the outset.

“The government persecutor intentionally prepared a weaker case without recording sufficient evidence against the officers. It’s the prosecutor’s fault rather than the court’s,” said Basnet.

He argued that the senior officials were institutionally protected while pointing all fingers at lower rank officials. “The rape completely overshadowed robbery, which in fact was the root cause of this incident,” he said.

The victim’s family said they are dismayed at the verdict. Rai’s sister Kausila said she could not believe it. “We had high hope from the court. It’s an emblematic case of rape and swindle in Nepal that the whole world knows ,” she said.

She said the court gave verdict in favour of the culprits as they are high-level officials. “We have nobody in power. The powerful trampled on our hurt sentiment.”

Rai arrived at the TIA on November 21 last year. The Immigration Department officials discovered that she was traveling with a passport of one Bimala KC of Parbat and detained her where officials robbed her of Rs 218,000 by threatening to imprison her if she refused to comply with their demand.

Constable Basnet, on the pretext of dropping her off to New Buspark, raped her at a local guesthouse. Basnet also seized her watch, perfume, T-shirts and the last 800 riyals in her purse. Senior officials including the duo had actually masterminded the “robbery”.

Various reports including the one prepared by the Home Ministry and the High-level Probe Panel led by PMO Secretary Raju Man Singh Malla have indicted senior officials including then Director General Suresh Adhikari, his deputy Lekhnath Pokharel and the officer duo.

Sources at the Home Ministry agreed the case was made weaker under intense “higher political and union pressure” as both the officers were union members.

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