27 December 2011. The Supreme Court (SC) has today refrained from registering a writ petition on a rape case that occurred during the conflict in Dailekh. The then lieutenant of Bhawanibaks battalion, Jibesh Thapa and three other are implicated in the rape of a 40-year old woman of Narayan Municipality of Dailekh.
The DPO Dailekh had already refused to register an FIR on the case on 30 September 2011 and had endorsed it stating that it was brought much later than the stated 35 days limitation period of the Country Code.
After this, a group of Human rights organizations including Advocacy Forum (AF) moved the Apex Court asking the court to issue a certiorari order to quash the endorsement of the police and issue a mandamus, ordering the DPO to register the FIR and carry out prompt investigation. Contrary to this, the SC has endorsed the case stating that the petitioner has failed to seek the alternative remedy as per Section 3(5) of the State Cases Act, under which a case can be brought before a higher authority like the Chief District Officer (CDO) provided the police desist from registering the FIR. The petitioners have, however, clearly mentioned in the writ that the case was brought before the CDO invoking the same Section but the latter had neither accepted nor endorsed it.
