Rana Bahadur's spirit was so shaken by the gory sight of his daughter's dead body that he could not go back home. He had watched helplessly as the security forces shot her down just outside their house at Chamkharka in Kabhre 14 December. Rana Bahadur was basking in the sun when all of a sudden about 30 security personnel arrived at his door. His daughter, Maya, was busy with household chores. The soldiers surrounded her, beat her with a stick and then shot her dead. The father did not have the courage to raise his voice, even as this tragedy unfolded before his eyes.

"We saw the soldiers open fire," says neighbour Ram Bahadur Tamang. "But we remained quiet because we were very afraid." Earlier, a soldier had come to Maya and asked information on her. He left when she denied any knowledge, only to return later with more men. Maya was dragged to a shed and summarily executed. The soldiers then buried her in a shallow grave near the house, which has begun to smell. Terrified neighbours refuse to even leave their homes and a boy who witnessed the incident stays cooped up in his room. Maya married a Maoist cadre last year but had been living with her father for two months after running away from her husband. Villagers suspect she was killed for being a Maoist's wife.