Bhaktapur, Aug 21: A total of 22 people were injured in a clash between security personnel and the children who escaped after breaking the main gate of the child correctional home in Madhyapurthimi Municipality-2 Sanothimi.
Two children got injured after Nepal Police personnel fired three rounds of bullet to calm down the agitation. Superintendent of Police of Bhaktapur Police Complex Prajit KC informed that 10 police inspectors of Nepal Police and eight members of Armed Police Force were injured in the incident that happened today.
Police inspector Sanjiv Oli, who was injured in the attack by the children, is being treated at Madhyapur Hospital. His hand was broken and various parts of his body were injured. Four people were injured on the side of the prisoner. Two of them were shot. The police informed that the seriously injured among those who were shot are being treated at Bir Hospital Trauma Center in Kathmandu.
Chief District Officer of Bhaktapur Khagendra Prasad Rijal informed that the injured are being treated at various hospitals in the valley including Citizen Community Hospital of Bhaktapur, Madhyapur Hospital, Bir Hospital, and TU Teaching Hospital.
Two hundred and twenty-one people escaped after breaking the gate of the correctional home where there were 299 children, including 43 girls and 256 boys. Superintendent of Police KC informed that currently 194 people have been arrested from various places in Bhaktapur and Kathmandu. He informed that 27 more have been contacted by telephone. He claimed that even those who came in contact would be under control by today night.
He informed that 43 female inmates and some male inmates remained inside the juvenile correctional facility even though the prisoners shouted slogans and came out with homemade weapons saying that the administration had discriminated inside the juvenile correctional facility. He informed that after breaking the gate and coming out, the prisoner attacked the police with homemade weapons and stones and the police had to fire three rounds to control the situation.
The inmates who came out after breaking down the gate also ransacked the reform house and the nearby USEP office. The executive director of USEP, Keshav Suwal, informed that the amount of damage caused by the vandalism was not ascertained.
CDO Kharel informed that the preliminary investigation revealed that the prisoner attacked the police with homemade weapons such as sticks, spears, machete, and knives while leaving the correctional facility. A child inmate said that there is daily discrimination in different things like medicine, food and water inside the correctional home.
How today’s incident happened
A meeting held with the family of the deceased under the chairmanship of District Security Committee and CDO Rijal on Sunday formed an investigation committee under the leadership of Assistant Chief District Officer Dorendra Prasad Niraula to understand the truth about the incident.
The committee was assigned the responsibility of investigating the facts and submitting a report within seven days. According to the demand of the family of the deceased, the truth about the incident was investigated, the body was examined, the report was sent to the higher authorities for compensation and today a report was made to the police about the incident.
According to the agreement with the family of the deceased, the police was preparing to file a complaint today. Giving information about today’s incident, CDO Rijal said that since the family of the deceased did not come to lodge a complaint even by noon, the Assistant Chief District Officer also asked the relatives of the deceased to come and lodge a complaint.
He informed that the situation became tense when the relatives of the deceased, who were saying that they would come to report to the police and the administration, suddenly went to the juvenile correctional home after noon today and entered the correctional home shouting slogans. According to him, immediately after that, the prisoner shouted slogans from inside and took the machete, knife, stick, spear and other weapons from the kitchen of the house and attacked the police stationed outside. At one time, more than a hundred prisoners came out and chased the police. According to the eyewitnesses of Sanothimi, the prisoner ran to Sanothimi SOS with a homemade weapon in his hand.
They threw stones at the police. After the situation became uncontrollable, the police fired three rounds and it is said that two prisoners were injured, one of whom is being treated at Bir Hospital in critical condition. The prisoners went to Kathmandu on foot shouting slogans in the group, some escaped from there.
How Basnet died
After the death of 21-year-old Kamal Basnet from Manthali Municipality-3, Kathjor in Ramechhap, who was brought to the Children’s Correctional Home Sanothimi on 29 Jestha 2077 BS by the District Police Office Ramechhap to serve his sentence for forced labor at the age of 18, the Children’s Correctional Home became tense on Sunday morning. He informed his family after he developed a fever since Saturday, and after taking paracitamol to sleep at night, he fell unconscious in the morning and was taken to the Civil Hospital for treatment. The hospital informed that he died.
After Basnet’s death, the situation of the correctional home was tense on Sunday as the male inmates in the correctional home shouted slogans from inside and the relatives of the deceased entered from outside. The relatives of the deceased raised slogans demanding a fair investigation into the incident, action against the culprits and proper compensation.
According to the police, there was a rash on the left leg of the deceased and he had eye problems and fever from before. Although the correctional home informed the family of the death, the cause of death was not clearly informed and when the relatives tried to understand the incident saying that the death was mysterious, on the contrary, the relatives accused the police that the team mistreated the victim. They raised slogans demanding a fair investigation of the incident, action against the culprits and compensation for the death due to lack of timely treatment.
According to the police, the situation got out of control after the relatives of the deceased again went to the correctional facility and shouted slogans against the agreement.
