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Durbarmarg gang rape: Victim changes her statement
Durbarmarg gang rape victim has changed her statement saying “the incident was not rape”, according to an investigator at the Metropolitan Police Range, Teku.Durbarmarg gang rape victim has changed her statement saying “the incident was not rape”, according to an investigator at the Metropolitan Police Range, Teku.
“We assured of her full security yet she maintained that the incident was not rape despite multiple cross questions,” said the investigator who did not wish to be identified.
The investigator said the woman had been out of contact for a few days and may have been intimidated to record a false statement. “We shall continue with the process of recording her statement on another day,” said the investigator.
Three days back the 22-year-old woman had insisted on registering her rape complaint.
Two Durbarmarg police officers, who told her to settle the issue with the four rapists, were subsequently summoned by the Nepal Police Headquarters following media exposure and the subsequent public outcry.
Evidence gathered by the Post shows the woman, in the first few days after the incident, has consistently maintained in formal statements including medical reports that she was gang raped.
In one such report, the woman said she was offered momo and wine by a man she knew six months back. After the drink, she “felt drowsy and lethargic”. The four men took her to Hotel Landmark and undressed her. She said a person who “called himself a police” recorded video of the incident.
Superintendent of Police and Spokesperson of Kathmandu Police Ram Dutta Joshi, leading the investigation, said, “I won’t comment on issues that are under investigation. Let me assure that justice will be meted out to the victim.”
Police suspect the rape victim’s step father put pressure on her to close the case. He claims “it has been already settled”. The investigators plan to interrogate her step father.
Four men raped the woman in Landmark Hotel on January 25. One of the men is said to be the woman’s boyfriend. The next day, when the woman went to the police station, but the inspector did not register her complaint and told her to settle the issue with the perpetrators of the crime.
Durbarmarg Police Station Inspector Laxman Singh Thakuri urged the victim to settled the issue with the rapists.
Nepal Police headquarters officers are probing Thakuri and DSP Tilak Bharati for refusing to register her complaint.
The National Human Rights Commission hasformed its own panel to investigate into the case and the attempt made by police to cover up the incident.