In a new revelation regarding the May 3 shooting of a girl in Damak, relatives have claimed that the assailant shot her after she declined to withdraw a two-year-old rape complaint filed against him.

Erika Gajmer was returning to her rented room in ward 5 of Damak Municipality, Jhapa, after she wrote her Grade 12 board exam on May 3. A masked man, wearing a helmet, ambushed her when she approached the Senior Citizen Building in ward 5 of Damak. The man dragged her in the busy street and attacked her, said police.

According to Erika, Amit Kumar Yadav who allegedly raped her two years ago, ambushed and attacked her while she was returning from the exam centre. “He put a gun to my head and demanded that I withdraw the rape complaint file against him with the police. When I refused, he knocked me down and shot me,” said Erika.

Yadav, a permanent resident of ward 5 of Sakhuwanankarkatti Rural Municipality in Siraha district, allegedly raped the victim on July 11, 2022 in Udayapur where the accused worked as a teacher. Durga Gajmer, victim’s sister registered a complaint at the Udayapur District Police Office on July 21, 2022, stating that Yadav raped her sister. The victim was just 15-year-old when the alleged rape happened.

Police suspect that the suspect came to Jhapa after he learnt that the victim stayed there and studied in Grade 12. He attacked the victim soon after she emerged from the exam hall.

According to the victim, the assailant aimed his pistol to shoot her in the back of her neck. “I somehow removed the pistol from my neck. But he fired at me when I fell on the road,” said the victim. She sustained bullet injuries in the stomach.

Erika is undergoing treatment at the Life Line Hospital in Damak. “She has shrapnel injuries in the intestine. It could have been fatal had the bullet pierced her abdomen,” said a doctor involved in her treatment.

According to the victim’s family, the hospital bill has already reached around Rs500,000. “The hospital says that she will be discharged in a couple of days. We have to pay more than Rs500,000 to the hospital, but we don’t have the money,” said Durga.

Erika and Yadav had known each other since Yadav was a teacher at the Mahendra Secondary School in ward 3 of Limchungbung Rural Municipality, where she completed her Secondary Education Examination (SEE).

According to the Udayapur district police, the complaint states that Yadav, who was the victim’s teacher, manipulated and forcibly raped her on July 11, 2022 in ward 1 of Rautamai Rural Municipality of the district. Yadav is absconding since an arrest warrant was issued following the filing of the complaint.

Durga, the victim’s sister, said that after they filed the complaint, Yadav contacted their family several times while still on the run, and threatened to kill them if they didn’t withdraw their complaint.

“The police have not been able to arrest Yadav because he has familial connections in politics and in the police as well. He managed to escape soon after the filing of the complaint because he had a relative working at the district police office,” said Durga.

Jhanak Ghimire, a human rights activist, said that despite the complaint, the police have shown little interest in arresting Yadav.

“Even Suresh Kumar Rai, a member of the Koshi provincial assembly, had weighed in on the matter, stating that Erika, a Dalit girl, rightfully deserves justice, but due to the negligence of the security personnel, Yadav is still at large,” said Ghimire. “There was ample evidence of the suspect stalking the victim, yet due to police inaction, she was shot in broad daylight,” Ghimire added.

Durga further doubted that the police were unaware when the absconding accused is attacking openly, unless there is a mole within the district police.

The police say they do not know where the accused is after the shooting, but it has been suspected that he may have been hiding in Bihar, India.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Chandrakuver Khapung, chief of the Koshi Province Police, said that the police have taken the incident seriously and the absconding accused will be arrested immediately.

“It seems he is hiding in Bihar, and efforts are being made to seek the help of the Indian police to arrest him,” said Khapung.