He fought for 16 and a half years to punish the man who burned his son alive

On Friday, when he reached Singh's house in the middle of a dense settlement to the east of Saruatha village, he was holding a picture of his son Trilok Pratap Singh, who was killed at the age of 22. With tears in his eyes, he placed the photo on his chest. After some time he started to calm down. Trilok's mother, 80-year-old Kamaladevi, who was in the courtyard, was also crying.

Congress leader and ex-minister Mohammad Aftab Alam, accused of Trilok's murder, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Thursday by District Court Gaur.

Sreenarayan went to the court to hear the verdict. After three days of continuous debate, the single bench of Judge Matrikaprasad Acharya decided to sentence Aftab Alam to life imprisonment. Singh went to the court for three days and heard the arguments and also heard the verdict.

He went to court for 16 years and 8 months demanding that the killer be punished for killing his injured son by putting him alive in a brick kiln. Singh, who was found crying while holding the photo of his son who was killed in the incident, said, 'There are no complaints related to justice, but the memory of his son who was killed will always haunt our family.' told While saying this, tears were welling up in his eyes. "I killed my son like a goat alive in a brick kiln," he said Also sold 3 bigha of land in 16 years to give form of justice. Now the value of the land is around 2 crore rupees. Tears did not leave his eyes while he was talking

. Every now and then he would wipe his tears with his hand or a handkerchief. "These are tears of joy after the verdict, father," he added. Trilok's mother, Kamaladevi, who was in the courtyard outside the room where Singh was staying, was not in a position to speak much about her son's death. She walks with the help of a stick. So far, she is devastated by the news of her son's death and does not speak much if anyone asks about her son. "Those who killed their sons went to jail, but they come out after serving the sentence and live with their families," she said.

Trilok is the youngest son of the Singh family. The elder Satyendra Pratap Singh is a journalist. He is working as a Rautahat Correspondent in Madhyantar Daily. Now Satyendra is taking care of his parents.

Trilok, who was studying B.Sc. second year at Goenka College in Sitamarhi, India, was blasted when he came home on 2064 Chait 17. On the night before the first Constituent Assembly election, i.e. on the night of Chait 27, the father demanded action against former minister and Congress leader Mohammad Aftab Alam, his brother Mehtab Alam and 11 others for allegedly throwing Trilok, who was injured in an explosion at the shed of Congress leader Sheikh Idris in Rajpur Fardahwa, and throwing him alive into the chimney furnace. Sreenarayan went to Kathmandu and Gaur court. After 12 years of the incident, on October 11, 2076, the then District Police Chief SP (currently SSP) Bhupendra Bahadur Khatri caught Alam, and the investigation started. On the day of the

incident, Srinarayan tells that Aftab's people came and took Trilok away for campaigning. "Alam won the election," he said, "but he sacrificed my son to set a political journey." On that day, Srinarayan said that the loud explosion reached his ears. "During the election, I kept quiet thinking that something might have happened," he said, "but in the morning, the people of the village told me that Trilok was killed in the explosion." After that, the Singh couple collapsed at home.

The then District Police Chief SP Laxman Neupane (who was killed in the Tikapur incident) who reached the spot, asked him to prepare a bond stating that there was no explosion. The lawyer of the Alam side kept making an example of that bond.

Srinarayan reached the district police office on 6th Baisakh 2065 with a complaint. But there was no hearing. SP Neupane did not register Singh's complaint. In the

incident, 20-year-old OC Akhtar of Saruatha was also burnt alive along with Trilok, and his mother Ruksana Khatun also filed a police complaint with Singh. The complaint of both was sent by post on May 9 after the police ignored it. On May 18, the district police received a complaint and the police called both the victims and identified them. After that, Singh complained that the police conducted an investigation like weed removal. After registering the complaint, 5 people along with Aftab Alam appeared before the district police on 9th June 2065. The police took statements from 5 people on the same day and submitted the case to the district attorney's office. The prosecutor's office decided not to prosecute everyone, including Alam. This shocked Singh and Ruksana who were fighting for justice. The decision made by the District Attorney reached the Attorney General's office in Kathmandu via the Court of Appeal Hetounda and the decision not to proceed with the case was approved.

The 80-year-old mother, Kamaladevi, was overcome with emotion by remembering her son on Friday, the day after the court sentenced the convict for the murder of her son Trilok Pratap Singh to life imprisonment. Photo: Shiv Puri/Kantipur

Srinarayan and Ruksana filed a petition in the Supreme Court on July 25, 2065, demanding the annulment of the judge's decision. "At that time, it seemed that justice was dead in the country," says Srinarayan, "It was decided that even the case of throwing a living person into a brick kiln would not be tried, that was the height of injustice."

On June 16, 2079, the then Chief Justice Sushila Karki gave a directive order on behalf of the government to seriously investigate and prosecute the case while giving a verdict on the writ against the decision of the Attorney General. The victims then went to the Directorate of Judgment Implementation. There was no hearing.

Meanwhile, while Maiti was gone, Ruksana was shot and killed. After this incident, Srinarayan also felt insecure and scared. He was afraid that he might be killed at any time. On June 6, 2076, the Supreme Court wrote a letter to the Attorney General's Office asking why the order was not followed.

In the meantime, Srinarayan, who ran to the capital many times, did not get tired. As he could not afford the expenses, he used to sleep in Dharamshala at New Road in Kathmandu.

According to the letter of the Attorney General's office, the then SP Khatri (currently SSP) arrested Alam. In the meantime, Sreenarayan said that he was greedy for crores of rupees for the settlement of the case and some people came to his house and threatened to keep quiet while the case was being heard.

'Alam's people came to ask you to take as much money as you want but don't go to court,' he said, 'money is not greater than a son, I told them to give a son, not money.' Singh said that even when the court asked for a bank letter, they refused to give a large amount of money.

Police have arrested Mohammad Aftab Alam, his brother Mohammad Mehtab Alam, Sheikh Seraj, Sheikh Fazlehak, Sheikh Bhadai, Sagir Alam, Badri Sahni, Gauri Shankar Shah, Mukti Shah, on the charge of killing Sreenarayan's son Trilok and Ruksana Khatun's son OC in the chimney furnace. On October 18, 2076, an indictment was registered before the court against 11 people, including Mohd Mobin Alam and Sheikh Jumeen alias Sheikh Malkar, for the crime of duty killing, killing industry and explosives. On October 29, 2076, District Court Gaur ordered Alam to be remanded in custody. He is now in Nakhkhu Jail. Brother Mehtab Gaur is in jail.

4 and a half years had passed since the case was registered on November 18, 2076. After 12 years of the blast incident, Alam was arrested on October 26, 2076, and the investigation of the incident, which was anonymous under political cover, gained significance. Then Srinarayan told that justice had been done. In this incident, OC's wife Amna Khatun and father-in-law Samsul Mian have changed their statements in the court. Srinarayan says, "They may have changed their statements after taking the money." Srinarayan was shocked when both of them gave statements in favor of Alam. But the old lion did not lose heart. He continued to travel to Kathmandu and Gaur for justice without ever feeling tired.