A group of Banke-based human rights activists led by Ruby Khan started a sit-in at Maitighar in Kathmandu on Friday, demanding immediate removal of Badshah Kurmi as minister from the Lumbini provincial government.

They started the protest as the Nepali Congress and the ruling alliance appointed Badshah as a minister, ignoring their warning. The protesters had issued an ultimatum to the ruling coalition for his removal. As the coalition paid no heed, they marched to Kathmandu from their hometown to put pressure on the top leaders in the national capital.

Kurmi, a Congress leader and Provincial Assembly member in Lumbini, is the prime accused in Nirmala Kurmi’s disappearance and capture of her property. Nirmala, a resident of Banke district, disappeared mysteriously in 2010, and remains missing.

The protesters have made demands for Badshah’s immediate removal as minister, registration of a court case against him, and assurance of security for the protesters. Badshah, minister for Forest and Environment in the Lumbini government, is second in the Cabinet hierarchy after Chief Minister Chet Narayan Acharya of the CPN-UML.

The protesters walked barefoot from Kalanki to Maitighar before commencing their indefinite sit-in at Maitighar. This is the fourth time they have been in the federal capital demanding justice for Nirmala.

“A prime accused in a heinous crime has become a minister. How can we expect justice when the person, who should be facing prosecution, occupies high office?,” Khan told the Post. “This shows how insensitive this government and our political parties are.”

She said successive governments, by refusing to implement past deals, have proved that they are not accountable to the people and not bothered about rule of law. United under Mahila Adhikar Manch, Banke, the group of activists has been continuously protesting for over three years demanding justice for Nirmala.

In October 2021, a group of 14 people, including 11 women, arrived in Kathmandu from Nepalgunj, covering over 500 kilometres on foot in the quest for justice for two women—victims of murder and disappearances. They had to march to Kathmandu after the local administration paid no attention to their protest.

After 12 days of sit-ins and a hunger strike, the government had agreed to investigate the murder of Nakunni Dhobi and Nirmala Kurmi, who disappeared mysteriously in 2010. Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba was the prime minister at the time.

Badshah Kurmi, a Congress leader and Provincial Assembly member in Lumbini, is the prime accused in Nirmala’s disappearance and capture of her property. Ignoring the agreement his party had signed with Ruby Khan, who is in charge of Mahila Adhikar Manch, Banke that staged the protest, the Congress fielded Badshah in the provincial assembly elections in November 2023. He won.

One and a half years later, on July 23, the country’s biggest party made him a minister in the province. The Congress has rewarded him, while it is the government’s responsibility to implement past agreements. The Ministry of Home Affairs, led by Ramesh Lekhak of the party, has sealed two agreements with Khan: the first in January 2022 and the next on June 25.

After around three weeks of protest, the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government had reached a five-point deal with Khan in the last week of June. This included completing the investigation of Nirmala’s disappearance without delay.

Based on the agreement in October 2021, the government had formed a committee led by Hira Lal Regmi, then a joint-secretary at the home ministry.

The committee, in its report submitted to erstwhile minister for home affairs Bal Krishna Khand, had recommended the arrest of, and investigation into, eight people for their alleged involvement in disappearing Nirmala.

The police arrested seven, who were later released, but they never arrested Badshah Kurmi. Badshah was also a Constituent Assembly member and an influential Congress leader in Banke.

With the government’s reluctance to implement the Regmi panel’s recommendation, Khan, accompanied by 15 others, walked to Kathmandu on foot from Banke and started a sit-in in the Capital on November 25, 2021. They withdrew their protest on the 42nd day, after the government agreed to get the Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police to investigate Kurmi’s disappearance, implement the home ministry’s probe report and provide security to the protesters.

Nirmala, 52, had gone missing in January 2010 from Janaki Rural Municipality in Banke. Her disappearance came to light two years after her two teenage sons were murdered in the span of a week. Khan has been demanding Badshah’s arrest.

Khan said they will not give up the protest so long as Badshah remains minister. Human rights defenders supporting their movement say the government must be honest towards implementing past agreements.

“All major parties, when they were in the government, came to agreements with the protesters. It is their responsibility to implement the deals,” Mohna Ansari, a former member of the National Human Rights Commission, told the Post.

Following the government’s reluctance to abide by its deals, the constitutional human rights watchdog in June had directed it to present a progress report on the agreements.

“It has come to light that the investigation committee under the Ministry of Home Affairs in 2021 recommended probing the cases after arresting the accused. However, the past agreements between the government and the protesters have not been implemented. The home ministry is asked to report within seven days explaining the progress in implementing the agreements,” the commission had said.

The government has ignored the directive. “We have not received any response,” Shyam Babu Kafle, chief at the investigation department at the commission, told the Post.