Following the suspicious deaths of two inmates at the district jail in Khandwari Municipality-1, significant developments have unfolded. The deceased, identified as 19-year-old Binod Tolangi from Madi Municipality-5 in Sankhuwasabha and 28-year-old Akash Balami from Kakani Rural Municipality-7 in Nuwakot District, were reported to have died on August 9 due to alleged police torture. In light of these events, postmortem examinations were conducted on August 12 at the district hospital.
Expert doctors from Koshi Hospital in Biratnagar were engaged to conduct the postmortem procedures, under the administration of the hospital.
Initially, the families of the victims vehemently opposed postmortem examinations until the perpetrators were identified and held accountable. However, an all-party meeting held on August 11 resulted in an agreement that paved the way for the postmortem to take place. This meeting involved Director of Prison Management Department Kamal Prasad Pandey, Chief District Officer Shiva Kumar Karki, DSP Birendra Godar of District Police Office, Director of National Human Rights Commission, Koshi Province Office Biratnagar Pawan Bhatt, Somraj Thapa, Coordinator of INSEC Koshi Province, civil society representatives, and political party representatives.
The accord reached during the all-party meeting encompassed the lodging of a formal complaint against the accused individuals, aiming to facilitate an investigation into the incident and ensure the identification of those responsible. Consequently, a complaint was filed against Rajendra Ghimire, the head of the District Jail Office, and Lakshmi Chaudhary, who was overseeing prison security during the time of the alleged incident.
The victims’ families abstained from identifying and taking possession of the bodies due to the police’s failure to disclose the accused individuals involved.