Pardafas Reporter
An Appellate Court in Nepal has slapped life imprisonment to a Nepali Army personnel Chiran Kumar Budha, who served as a ranger, in connection to torturing to death of a local resident who had mistakenly entered the Chitwan National Park.
A double bench of justice Chandi Raj Dhakal and Nagendra Lal Karna slapped the punishment against sergeant Dudha.
On 16 July, 2021 Raj Kumar Chepang and six of his friends, including two women, were detained by the Army patrol inside the protected area of the CNP which is also considered a safe haven of endangered one horn rhinoceros and royal Bengal tiger. They had gone to collect a local delicacy called Ghongi, a species of snail, on the bank of Jyudi river inside the park.
They were arrested by army Personnel led by Budha who then took them inside a nearby Nepali Army’s Batuk Dal Battalion at the CNP. They were released on the same day in the late evening. However, upon being released Raj Kumar was taken ill and was rushed to the hospital the next day. He died a couple of days later on July 22 at the Bharatpur Hospital.
Santa Lal Praja, who was detained along with Raj Kumar, said he and his friends, except for the two women, were beaten by the soldiers. He said they were also forced to carry heavy wooden logs and do 100 pushups.
A few days later Raj Kumar’s father, Bishnulal, filed a complaint at the District Police Office on Friday, claiming that his son was tortured by the Army patrol, which led to his death. He has demanded an impartial investigation into the incident and punishment to the guilty. But he did not mention names of any army personnel. On September 10, Bishnulal filed another complaint at the police office mentioning the names of those involved in the incident.
The Chitwan police then arrested the main accused Budha 10 days after receiving the second complaint. His arrest was made followed by the official post mortem report including the viscera and blood test reports of the deceased. The post mortem of the deceased was conducted at the TU Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu.
Budha was first convicted of murder and fined jail term of nine months by the Chitwan District Court, against which Ram Kumar’s family had moved to Hetauda Appellate Court.
Nepali Army has been receiving widespread applause for its successful mission to control poaching of wildlife inside the CNP. However, it’s atrocities against the aboriginal people in the area is not new for locals here. The NA is also infamous for burning houses of the indigenous people like Raj Kumar and adding miseries in their lives in these parts.
Raj Kumar is survived by his parents, wife and a one-and-a-half-year-old daughter.
