DNA samples of Niharika Rajput’s child and alleged father match
Last year, the Dhanusha District Court had rejected Rajput’s demand for a DNA test. But the authorities relented after she threatened to launch a fast-unto-death. This file photo shows Niharika Rajput with her child staging a hunger strike near Singha Durbar on August 5. Sanjog Manandhar/TKP
The DNA samples of Niharika Rajput’s son and Shivaraj Shrestha, the man Rajput has accused of repeatedly raping and impregnating her, have matched, according to the Janakpur High Court.
Khadgaraj Adhikari, registrar of the Janakpur High Court said the result of the DNA test report was submitted to the court on Friday. “Niharika’s case will be reopened on November 11. However, since most of the employees of the courts are deployed on election duty, the case may be heard after November 20,” said Adhikari.
The DNA test was conducted at the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology in Lalitpur on September 9.
Last year Rajput’s demand for a DNA test was rejected by the Dhanusha District Court. She had then decided to start a fast-unto-death until her demands were met.
Rajput had filed a case at the Dhanusha District Court on March 2, 2020, after she was allegedly raped by Shrestha on October 29, 2019. She gave birth to a baby boy on August 21, 2020.
Shrestha, a resident of Kshireshwarnath Municipality-3, Mahendra Nagar, had given a statement in the court saying that Rajput’s accusations were baseless and untrue.
The Dhanusha District Court decided that the existing evidence could not establish the charges.
The court’s verdict did not come in Rajput’s favour because she had told the court that Shrestha and her relationship was that of a husband and wife, advocate Rinku Kumari Yadav, who fought on behalf of Rajput at the district court, had told the Post in June.
Rajput had then appealed the district court’s verdict at the Janakpur High Court on February 27.
Then she came to Kathmandu and approached the National Human Rights Commission seeking justice. She, subsequently, started a hunger strike demanding a DNA test, to prove that Shrestha is her baby’s father. She ended her hunger strike after signing a five-point agreement with the Home Ministry.
Rajput, whose real name is Sonali Kumari Singh, is from Mahottari in Jaleshwar Municipality-9, had attempted self-immolation in front of the President's office on August 12. She was taken into custody to prevent her from self-harm, said police.
On Friday, Rajput, who is in Kathmandu, was detained briefly by the police after she went to the Baluwatar area, where the prime minister’s residence is, to hold a press meet. “No one can protest or gather in a restricted area. We detained her briefly,” said superintendent of police Dinesh Raj Mainali, spokesperson of the District Police Range Kathmandu.
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