Monitoring of Panchthar bomb blast area by rights activists and meeting with victims

A week after the explosion, a team from Biratnagar-based human rights organization INSEC and the regional office of CIVIN Nepal, active in the field of children, conducted an on-site study and got information about the incident. The team met with the citizens around the scene including Dilip and Pooja Sanwa, the parents of Dipsan and Prinsa Sanwa who died in the blast, Gyan Bahadur and Deepak Rai, the parents of the injured Pawan and Dipsan Rai. During the

meeting, most of the locals said that the incident happened due to the fact that the bomb was used carelessly in armed conflict and could not be properly managed. Pooja Sanwa, the mother of the deceased Dipsan and Prinsa, said that her two children died due to the explosion and demanded an impartial investigation of the incident and action against the culprits.

'Both children died. My heart is full, when and who left the bomb in a neglected state? Let the state investigate, so that no more innocent people die," she said.

On the afternoon of Thursday 13th of August, local Dilip Sanwa's 11-year-old son Dipsan and two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Prinsa Sanwa died when there was an explosion at the house of local Aitaraj Kerung. Pawan, the 9-year-old son of local Gyan Bahadur Rai, and Dipsan, the son of Deepak Rai, were injured. They are being treated at the burn hospital in Kirtipur.

The house where the explosion took place belongs to former Maoist activist Aitaraj Kerung (Ivy). Currently, the family of local Gyan Bahadur Rai is living in that house. The Kerung family has been living in the headquarters of Fidim since 2068. The local people's representative says that the house was used as a Maoist shelter during the conflict.

The local ward president Bharat Kumar Khapangi, who is also the spokesperson of Phalelung rural municipality, said that the bomb was hidden by the Maoists during the conflict and when it was not managed properly, it exploded when the children were playing together.

Ward member Man Bahadur Thamsuhang said that there may be other unattended bombs in the Prangwung area and suggested that possible locations should be searched and defused. In the team of rights activists, Manohar Pokharel and Punya Adhikari of INSECC Biratnagar office, along with Chief Basu Adhikari of Siwin Biratnagar and Psychologist Salina Sapkota participated. After studying the scene of the incident, issuing a joint statement, the rights activists have demanded that the state does not leave any wrongdoing to investigate the incident effectively, take judicial action against the victims, treat the injured and give justice to the families of the deceased.

Manohar Pokharel of INSEC Biratnagar said that awareness should be spread at the school and community level to prevent such incidents from happening again. The team has also discussed with the district security agencies and the team of health workers. In coordination with the team, the injured children were sent to Kathmandu. Chief Administrative Officer Dambar Bahadur Angdemwe informed that arrangements have been made to bring the children and their parents to Kathmandu. Treatment is arranged by Siwin Nepal. Financial collection has also been started to support their treatment.