The Ministry of Home Affairs on Saturday formed a three-member probe committee to investigate the Barahathawa incident which resulted in the death of a youth on Friday.

The committee led by Joint Secretary Thaneshwor Gautam includes Deputy Inspector General of Police Surendra Mainali, and Bhim Bahadur Budhathoki, investigation director at the National Investigation Department, as members, the ministry said.

Issuing a press release on Saturday, Joint Secretary of the Home Ministry Narayan Prasad Bhattarai, also spokesperson for the ministry, said that the committee has been given seven days to submit its report.

Likewise, the government has announced Rs1 million in compensation to the family of Jai Shankar Sah, who was killed in the clash between police and protesters in Barahathawa of Sarlahi district on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Sarlahi District Administration Office has enforced a 24-hour prohibitory order in Barahathawa market area on Saturday to avert any untoward incidents following Friday’s incident. The order will be in place until 8am on Sunday.

Tension ran high all day on Friday in Barahathawa after agitators vandalised the municipal office and Municipality chair Katuwal’s house, which is close to the municipal office. They also set a motorcycle on fire.

The protest was organised by locals against the Barahathawa Municipality’s decision to hand over a 15-bed primary health centre to the provincial authorities.

Friday’s death is the third in the country within a week and the fourth in the last one month resulting from clashes between the police and protesters.

Last Friday, two protesters died during a demonstration by job aspirants for overseas employment in Korea at Balkumari in Lalitpur. The Korean language test candidates were staging demonstrations outside the EPS Centre building at Balkumari demanding the chance to appear for language tests for manufacturing jobs in South Korea.

On December 13, one person died of bullet injuries when the police fired live rounds in the air to disperse protesters in Simraungadh Municipality of Bara. The police also fired several rounds of teargas canisters to control the crowd.

Twenty-five-year-old Laxmi Mukhiya Bin of Nansagaradhant in ward 1 of Simraungadh received bullet wounds in the back of his head. According to the Chief District Officer of Bara, Nawaraj Sapkota, Bin died on the spot and was taken to Narayani Hospital in Birgunj for post-mortem.

Over the past few years, cases of police brutality and excessive use of force have become more frequent in Nepal.

Baton-charging and physical violence at demonstrations are often employed to control protests while such events quickly spiral out of control when armed police intervene and resort to using guns to disperse the crowd.