Mahara acquitted

Former Speaker of the Nepal Parliament Krishna Bahadur Mahara was acquitted by the Kathmandu District Court of case in which he was accused of the attempted rape of a colleague in October last year.

Chief judge Ambar Raj Poudel ruled that there was not enough evidence to implicate Mahara in the case. Mahara had been in Dilli Bazar Jail during the investigation and court proceedings since 3 November 2019. The state prosecutor office had used evidence provided by Police and asked for a seven year sentence on the charge of attempted rape.

However, even though the court had asked for a polygraph test and DNA report on Mahara the police had been unable to provide them after the former Speaker refused to comply. Mahara had resigned from his post, and after the criminal case was filed he was automatically evicted from his parliamentary seat. 

Read also: The rise and fall of Comrade Mahara, Sewa Bhattarai and Sanghamitra Subba

The victim had accused Mahara of arriving in her room on 29 September at 7pm with a bottle of alcohol when her husband was not there, and tried to rape her. She complained verbally to the police at 8:45pm that Mahara had tried to rape her and beat her. added that he had beaten her up when she resisted.

Maharajganj police DSP Durga Raj Regmi arrived at the alleged victim’s room at 9:10, shot a video of the room, and asked the woman to accompany him for a medical exam. She refused, saying she would first wait for her husband to return.

DSP Regmi returned to the alleged crime scene the next morning and retrieved a half-finished bottle of alcohol, a glass, and snacks. He also found a broken pair of glasses and the sole of a shoe. The evidence was all presented to the court.

Read also: Mahara arrested

After first calling the police, the woman in question refused to further cooperate with teh investigation and changed her statement several times. But there is evidence that she called the Nepali Congress MP Uma Regmi at 11pm to help her.

The police report adds that Mahara’s bodyguard and driver said they had waited below the woman’s room while Mahara went up. Mahara himself denied ever going up, even though police presented a CCTV clip showing him leaving the room at 8:32:45pm that night. 

Mahara also refuted claims that he had a bottle of whiskey with him, and said he only drank red wine on doctor’s advice.  Police said that the grade on the spectacles retrieved from the room matched that of Mahara’s prescription.   

Police presented an SMS message from Mahara to the woman which said: ‘Forget about yesterday. Forgive me.’ The medical report of the woman also detailed evidence of beatings. 

In a curious turn of events, the woman herself said she was “very happy” about the verdict and thanked the district court. In a phone interview with Himal Khabarpatrika on Monday, she said: “I am happy because Mahara Sir suffered an injustice, and so did I. I have been denying the incident since that day itself, but everyone including the media and police out pressure on me. Today we got justice.”

She also accused the police of detaining her for nine hours and forcing her to file the complaint. She added: “It looks like our society talks about women’s rights, but perpetrated injustices against women.”

Meanwhile, the deputy state prosecutor Num Raj Khanal said: “We think we have enough evidence against Mahara. WE are going to appeal this case.”

Mahara has been released from jail, and can now assume his MP position the House, and avail himself of all his perks and salaries. However, if the higher court declares him guilty he could lose that post again.