Family’s Ongoing Hope for the Return of Their Son Missing for 18 Years

  November 8, 2023 By: INSEC

Dil Bahadur Thapa of Mangala Rural Municipality-3, Pakher, was arrested by the Nepali Army from Joubari in Syangja in 2006 and subsequently went missing. Despite the passage of time, his family has not lost hope of his return.

Dil Bahadur, the youngest of five children, lost his mother when he was only one and a half years old. His father, Indra Bahadur Thapa, raised the three sons and two daughters. After the youngest son joined the then-Maoist group, his father, Indra Bahadur Thapa, diligently searched for him, but to no avail. He scoured various places but couldn’t find any information about his son.

In June 4 of the previous year, Indra Bahadur passed away still hoping for his youngest son’s return. Despite his father’s death, Birendra Thapa Magar, Dil Bahadur’s brother, holds onto the hope that his brother will come back. Birendra explains, “My elder brother is Karna Bahadur, and the younger one is Dil Bahadur. When my brother was 16 years old, he joined the Maoists and never returned.”

Birendra Thapa Magar shares, “My father’s only hope was to receive news about his brother, but his hope was never be realized.”

Dil Bahadur’s sister-in-law recalls that she was told that her brother-in-law was taken away by some neighbors from the same locality, however he never returned. She explains that he went fishing with one of the neighbors in the Myagdi River. The neighbor had handed Dil Bahadur over to the army.

The family of the victim expresses their desire for the state to make public the circumstances surrounding his enforced disappearance. They believe that sharing such information would provide a sense of justice to the families of victims of enforced disappearances  like them.


Amrit Poudel