Bara, August 23
Traffic along the Simara section of the Birgunj-Pathlaiya road has returned to normal from Sunday morning after a five-day protest over the murder of three-year-old Garima Chaudhary was called off.
Locals and Garima’s family had been staging protests since Wednesday morning by putting up tents on the road near Dashdhure in Simara. The protest was withdrawn late Saturday night following a three-point agreement between the government and Garima’s parents.
Vehicles began moving from early Sunday morning.
Cargo vehicles that had remained stranded due to the protest resumed their journeys overnight, while long- and short-distance passenger buses and freight vehicles have been operating normally since Sunday morning.
Garima, a three-year-old from Dashdhure in Jeetpur Simara Sub-Metropolitan City-1, went missing from her home last Sunday morning. Her body was found two days later, on Tuesday evening, inside an abandoned house in the locality.
Police arrested 16-year-old Suman Thapa and 24-year-old Progress Chaudhary the same night, saying the child had been raped and murdered.
The arrests sparked protests after it emerged that the suspects were neighbours of the victim. Locals began blocking the road from Wednesday, demanding severe punishment, including the death penalty, for those responsible for the rape and murder of the child.
By Saturday afternoon, the protest had expanded beyond Simara, prompting Home Minister Sudhan Gurung to invite Garima’s parents for talks in Kathmandu.
The road was reopened after the government and Garima’s parents reached a three-point agreement at the Ministry of Home Affairs around midnight.
Although Garima’s parents had travelled to Kathmandu for the talks, local residents continued their sit-in on the road until late at night.
According to the Area Police Office, Simara, protesters left the road at around 1am after receiving information that the agreement had been reached between the government and Garima’s family in Kathmandu.
