At an age when most people are confined within the walls of their house, 84-year-old Shrinarayan Singh Rajput is still fighting—refusing to rest until justice is served for his son.

As the judiciary ‘fails’ to address his plea, he has travelled from his home in Rautahat to the federal capital to make his voice heard.

On the eve of the first Constituent Assembly elections in April 2008, some individuals were injured in a blast inside a shed in ward 4 of the then Rajpur Phardawa Village Development Committee (now ward 4 of Rajpur Municipality).

A case had been filed against Nepali Congress leader and former minister Mohammad Aftab Alam and 10 others on November 4, 2019, accusing them of killing those injured in the blast.

At least two of the injured were allegedly burnt alive after they were thrown into the furnace of a brick kiln. Alam, a candidate for the election, and his men have been accused of throwing Trilok Pratap Singh and Osi Akhtar, among others, who were severely injured in the blast, into the kiln’s furnace, in an attempt to destroy evidence of bomb-making. Trilok is the youngest son of Rajput.

While others were scared of filing a lawsuit against Alam, the prime accused, Rajput and Roksana Khatun, Akhtar’s mother, filed complaints against Alam and his accomplices.

Following the complaints, Alam had turned himself in before the police. However, then prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala decided to come to Alam’s rescue. In July 2008, less than a month after his arrest, the Attorney General Office decided against lodging a criminal case against the alleged mastermind and his five supporters.

Ignoring threats from Alam and his family, Rajput and Khatun knocked the Supreme Court’s door against the attorney general. A division bench of then justices Sushila Karki and Bharat Bahadur Karki in May 2012 directed the government to arrest and investigate Alam and his people. Khatun was shot dead by an unidentified group in 2011, even before the top court’s ruling.

Successive governments, however, were defiant in abiding by the court’s ruling. Alam was arrested only on October 13, 2009 after the threat of contempt of court. The Rautahat District Court remanded him in judicial custody on November 15, 2019.

Police had registered charges of ‘attempted murder’ and ‘possession and transport’ of explosives against Alam and his men, and they were also accused of throwing the injured people into a brick kiln “to destroy evidence”.

After years-long hearing, the Rautahat District Court on April 25 last year, handed down life imprisonment to Alam, his younger brother Mohammad Mahatab Alam, Shekh Saraj and Badri Sahani.

A single bench of judge Matrika Prasad Acharya kept the case against Mohammad Mobin, Shekh Fajale, Shekh Bhadi, Shahil Alam, Gauri Shankar Sah and Shekh Jumai—who are absconding—pending.

“I was very happy that day. I felt our judiciary delivers justice—it was just a matter of time,” Rajput said on Tuesday. However, his happiness was short-lived.

Overturning the subordinate court’s verdict, the Birgunj-bench of Janakpur High Court, on May 28, acquitted Alam, citing lack of evidence. A division bench of judges Khusi Prasad Tharu and Arjun Maharjan has refused to accept that any incident of blast happened.

The ruling has left Rajput stunned, as he himself had witnessed the blast site the very next day. “The verdict was passed either under pressure or some other influence,” he says. “I heard the court said no blast ever happened. If so, the state should say where my son is. Can it produce him before me?”

Shattered by the Tharu-led bench’s decision, Rajput on Monday filed an application at the Judicial Council demanding action against the judge duo who passed a ‘fallacious’ verdict. He has lodged the complaint questioning their intentions and capabilities.

“I want to appeal to the chief justice for an appropriate action against the judges who have left me in tears,” he said.

Rajput and his supporters believe the attorney general’s office will appeal at the Supreme Court against the high court decision. “If not, we will challenge the decision ourselves,” said Shailendra Sah, a political activist from Rautahat who has been supporting Rajput in his legal fight for years.

As the full-text of the high court ruling is not out yet, it will take some time to appeal it at the top court. And it might take several months, if not years, for the final verdict. “There is no pain greater than the pain of losing a child,” Rajput said. “I am prepared to fight till my last breath for justice. I believe the judiciary will deliver. If not, nobody will be spared in the court of God.”