Newa Rajya Samiti and Kirat Rajya Samiti affiliated to UCPN (Maoist) have jointly issued a press release on Friday warning Occupy Baluwatar to not demand arrest of party member Bal Krishna Dhungel who was convicted of murder of Ujjan Shrestha in 2004.

Occupy Baluwatar, a protest group formed in January 2013 to provide justice to victims of gender based violence has now snowballed into a larger movement calling on the government to end impunity.

The press release which bears the signatures of  Devendra Poudel “Sunil” and Lil Bahadur Thapa coordinator of Newa Rajya Samiti and of Kirat Rajya Samiti repsectively warns the protestors of “stern action” if they continue with their demand.

Bal Krishna Dhungel was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Ujjan Shrestha in Okhaldhunga in 1998 by the Okhaldhunga District court on 10 May 2004. Challenging this decision, Dhungel filed an appeal at Rajbiraj Appellate Court. The court on 25 June 2006 repealed the decision of the district court and exonerating Dhungel from the crime released him from the prison.

Dhungel went on to fight the CA elections in April 2006 and got elected. The sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court on appeal in 2010. However, Dhungel continues to walk free and is regularly seen with high ranking government officials.

Bal Krishna Dhungel (center) with Baburam Bhattarai at a program in Okhaldhunga two weeks ago.(Photo credit:Nagarik)

Later Ujjan’s brother Ganesh Kumar Shrestha was murdered by a Maoist group for daring to approach the court on the murder. Ganesh’s daughter, Rachana, who had innocently pointed out her father working on the family terrace, committed suicide out of guilt.

After losing three members of her family, Ujjan’s sister Sabitri began her fight for justice. Sabitri who joined the Occupy Baluwatar campaign hoping to bring the government’s attention to her brother Ujjan’s murder case says her fighting spirit is dampened by the authority’s indifference. “Seeing Bal Krishna cruising right past Occupy Baluwatar protest escorted by the police is an insult to our fight for justice,” said an outraged Sabitri last week.

Sabitri Shrestha who has been demanding for the arrest of her brother’s murderer at Occupy Baluwatar for weeks is disappointed but not surprised by the government’s inaction. “Dhungel is a high ranking Maoist official why would the Baburam Bhattarai’s government want to arrest its own party’s member, “ said Sabitri, speaking to Nepali Times last week at Occupy Baluwatar.

However, she is determined to fight till the end. Says Sabitri: “I don’t care what happens to me as long as my brother’s murderer is brought to book.”