A formal police complaint has been lodged against Krishna Bahadur Mahara, accusing the former Speaker of the House of rape.

According to Inspector General of Police Sarbendra Khanal, the woman lodged her complaint at the Baneshwor police station on Friday evening. While Mahara has stepped down as Speaker, he has not resigned as a Member of Parliament.

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The complaint is one more crest in what has been a rollercoaster week, with Dashain holidays just about to begin. A woman who works at the Parliament Secretariat first made the allegations against Mahara on Monday night via an online media portal. She then recanted her accusations in a video interview for another media portal. Many had believed that her recantation was made under duress. Police had failed to make any progress on the case, citing the lack of a formal complaint and the woman’s disavowal of her initial allegations.

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In the aftermath of the accusations and Mahara’s subsequent resignation as Speaker of the House, there were many fears regarding the woman’s safety, the politicisation of the case, and if an impartial investigation into Mahara was even possible, given his political standing in the ruling Nepal Communist Party.

A rising intolerance for dissent against the ruling party has led to significant concerns about the woman’s safety, especially as her complaint comes on the eve of the beginning of the Dashain holidays, which begin on October 5 and end on October 9.