The Supreme Court on Sunday ordered the police to present Ruby Khan, one of the protesters from Nepalgunj who was arrested on Friday, before the court.

A single bench of Justice Dipak Kumar Karki issued a show cause order to Nepal Police Lainchaur Circle Office, following a hearing on the habeas corpus petition filed by advocate Mohna Ansari, also a former human rights commissioner, stating that Khan’s whereabouts has been unknown since her arrest.

Demonstrations were organised at Maitighar in Kathmandu on Saturday and Sunday demanding the police make public the whereabouts of Khan, a resident of Nepalgunj Sub-Metropolitan City in Banke district.

Police, however, have not issued any statement regarding the issue.

Police on Friday had rounded up 13 people, who arrived in Kathmandu from Nepalgunj on Wednesday seeking justice, from Maitighar Mandala where they were staging a protest. The protesters were having dinner when the police intervened and detained them.

Fourteen people, including 11 women, from Banke district had taken a long arduous journey on foot to the national capital to demand a fair investigation into the death of Nakunni Dhobi and the disappearance of Nirmala Kurmi.

Their march for justice that covered over 500 kilometres was prompted after local authorities allegedly refused to deliver justice to Nakunni and Nirmala.

Thirty-eight-year-old Nakunni was found dead under suspicious circumstances at her home on July 20 in Ward 2 of Janaki Rural Municipality in Banke.

Fifty-two-year-old Nirmala had gone missing in January 2010 from the same rural municipality. Her disappearance had come two years after her two teenage sons were murdered within the span of one week. Neighbours and villagers say Nirmala owned a great deal of property, making her disappearance and the murder of her two sons suspicious. The justice seekers have accused Banke District Police of never taking her disappearance seriously.