She is on a hunger strike demanding action against those who raped her and protection of the rights of the child.
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A 25-year-old woman from Surkhet has come to Kathmandu seeking justice after becoming pregnant due to rape. She has alleged that Bhupendra Singh Thagunna of Darchula raped her. She was seven months pregnant and had been on a hunger strike at her mother's house from November 11 to 12 immediately after arriving in Kathmandu. She had been on a hunger strike demanding action against Thagunna and protection of the rights of the child.
However, the police took her to the Parapkar Maternity and Gynecology Hospital in Thapathali last Sunday after her baby stopped moving.
They met in Kathmandu four years ago after getting to know each other through social media. ‘I was studying for a bachelor’s degree in Kathmandu, when we met,’ the woman told Kantipur. After leaving Kathmandu and going to Surkhet, she claims that Thagunna would come to her room and repeatedly assault and rape her.
Two years ago, she filed a rape case through the National Human Rights Commission in both the district and high courts in Surkhet. Both courts acquitted Thagunna. The woman claims that Thagunna continued to abuse her even after that.
After she became pregnant, she again appealed to the government attorney’s office, the Human Rights Commission, and the Women’s Commission, seeking justice. ‘But I was forced to go on a hunger strike after not getting justice from anywhere,’ the woman says, ‘They have been threatening and intimidating me under the guise of access and power, and his family keeps threatening to kill me.’ Stating that she will continue to fight on the streets until she gets justice, she adds, ‘I will die, but I will continue to fight on the streets until he goes to jail.’
Sukumaya Lama, spokesperson for the Maternity Hospital in Thapathali, informed that the health condition of both her and the fetus is currently satisfactory. According to Surkhet District Police Inspector Deepak Mangrati, it seems that the two were living together a year ago.
‘The man was working at the Supreme Court until the time he filed the application at the District Police Office, but the police have since dismissed him,’ said Mangrati. ‘He was arrested and brought to court, and was released after the woman denied the charges.’ After that, the woman filed a case again on 13 Bhadra, but Mangrati said that even though they were searching for the young man after obtaining an arrest warrant from the court, he was absconding.
