Date:

Kathmandu, December 17

There has been a significant achievement  in the pursuit of making human rights violators accountable in the Terai as Butwal Appellate Court issued a mandamus against District Police Office, Rupandehi to file an FIR against two police personnel who are accused in the Ram Sewak Dhobi killing case.

The Joint Bench of judges Pushpa Koirala and Manoj Sharma of the court issued the writ of mandamus on December 15. The writ was filed by the victim's family with the legal support of Terai Human Rights Defenders Alliance (THRD Alliance).  

The District Police Office, and the District Administration Office  of Rupandehi had refused to register an FIR in the case. The Rupandehi DPO had not responded to the FIR sent to it through post office.

Dhobi, 28, was arrested  by police constables Rakesh Yadav and Maya Gurung of  Marchwar Area Police Office on 10 August 2013 and was detained there.  On 11 August, 2013, Dhobi's dead body was found in a ditch seven hundred meters from Marchwar Area Police Office. Although the Marchawar Police Office denied any wrongdoing in the case, injury marks on  his body and its pressure against the family to burn the dead body without  performing a postmortem raised suspicion against police.

THRD Alliance urges all national and  international stakeholders to ask the DPO, Rupandehi to file an FIR as per the court order and do the proper and credible investigation  into the case and strictly follow the criminal justice  procedure in the case.