Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa has said that the government’s will alone will not be enough to arrest the perpetrators behind the rape and murder of 13-year-old Nirmala Panta of Kanchanpur and it would take time to bring the culprit(s) to justice. He further said that the government is doing its part in the investigation of the case.

“There are lots of criminals who have been brought to justice 13 years after the incident,” said Home Minister Thapa, speaking during a press meet organised at Bharatpur Airport on Wednesday, adding, “Even though the government is doing its best it would take time to bring Nirmala’s rapists and murders to justice.”

The Home Minister also pointed out that the Kanchanpur rape and murder case is being unnecessarily politicized and the government is investigating the incident.

“There are hundreds of Nirmalas in our society who have been raped and statistics show that hundreds of women have suffered the same fate as Nirmala even before the formation of incumbent government. The government is moving ahead with necessary legal actions on every case,” said Thapa, “We are trying to find the real culprit(s) and bring them to justice but the manner in which this (Nirmala’s) case has been brought up shows that there is unnecessary political medelling.”

Meanwhile, even after two months have passed after the heinous crime took place, the authorities are still clueless about the prepetrator(s) involved in the rape and murder of Nirmala and public outrage is growing all over the nation to put the culprit(s) behind bars at the earliest.

Minister Thapa, claiming that the government has been able to book 95 percent of the criminals involved in rape nationwide, said that one cannot accuse the government of protecting the perpetrators of the crime.

“It could be said that the government did not fulfill its duties if the government failed to investigate the matter,” said Minister Thapa defending the government, reiterating, “The case is being politicised as the issue is being brought up even though the government is trying everything in its power to resolve the matter.”