Butwal Bench of High Court Tulasipur ordered the defendants District Police Office, Rupandehi and District Administration Office, Rupandehi to implement the decision of the court in the case of four-year-old child Chandan Patel, who was killed by the security forces on September 15, 2015 when the security forces resorted to indiscriminate firing.
Chandan and other three persons died when police opened fire on the protesters, who were protesting against the provisions of draft constitution.
Chandan’s father Awadhesh Prasad Kurmi, originally from Pokhariya Municipality-1 of Parsa district, who is currently residing in Mayadevi Rural Municipality-6 of Rupandehi district, filed a contempt of court case against the Deputy Superintendent of Police of District Police Office, Rupandehi and Chief District Officer of District Administration Office, Rupandehi claiming that the police did not act on his FIR that he filed seeking punishment for his son’s killer.
In the case of contempt of court, the joint bench of Justices Madan Pokharel and Hari Prasad Paudel Butwal bench of High Court, Tulsipur passed an order on January 8, 2020 telling the defendants to register his FIR and act on it.
Butwal bench of High Court, Tulsipur asked the defendants to abide by the earlier decision made by the court on August 17, 2016 and inform the court within 15 days about its implementation of the court order. In an earlier decision, the court had ordered the defendant to have the applicant’s FIR verified through his temporary address and act on the FIR.
But the court also ruled that the claim of plaintiff that the defendants’ inability to act on the FIR did not stand.
Terai Human Rights Defenders Alliance’s lawyer Shailendra Prasad Harijan presented his argument on behalf of the plaintiff.
According to Awadhesh Prasad Kurmi, his wife Anita Devi Kurmi, who had gone to Bethari market to buy some stuffs on September 15, 2015, took their four year old son with her. That day road of Bethari Chowk was obstructed due to the crowd of the market. Personnel of Nepal Police and Nepal Armed Police Force indiscriminately opened fired on the crowd claiming that the road was obstructed by the cadres of Samyukta Loktantrik Madheshi Morcha and Chandan, who was in his mother’s lap, was shot by the police on his head. The boy later succumbed to his injuries. Three other innocent persons were also killed in the police firing. Kurmi couple has sought to punish the killer of his son but they have not got justice yet.