Bikash Rai, an army man of Krishna Dal Battalion, ended his life with his own gun at the Nepal Army barracks in Rajbiraj in Saptari a little over a month ago.

Although he was said to have some kind of dispute with his family members, the main cause behind his decision to commit suicide also remains unknown.

As with the aforementioned two cases, motives (or causes) behind many reported suicide cases remain unknown, which, rights activists fear, may let the guilty walk free, concerned authorities said.

Furthermore, the alleged tendency of police officers to become extremely negligent while investigating suicide cases is said to make matters worse. Deputy Superintendent of Police Prabhu Prasad Dhakal at the Morang District Police Office said that as suicide cases remain shrouded in mystery, it becomes very difficult for the police to investigate such cases.

“We file a suicide case only when a complaint is lodged. Otherwise, we prepare FIR when we receive information about a suicide case, send the body for postmortem and close the case,” he said.

Shankar Khatri, an official at the District Attorney Office, said that a suicide case does not have any defendant(s) as it involves a person taking his own life. He added that as a result, there is no chance of case proceedings without defendants.

“No one is legally liable or responsible when someone commits suicide. So, we do not have any legal provision to take action against anyone,” he said.

Meanwhile, legal practitioner Rekha Jha said that more than half of the total number of daughter-in-laws in many Tarai districts, who, we are told, have committed suicide, are actually murdered. “However, the guilty walks free due to a lack of thorough police investigation,” she said.