PM comes to orphan's rescue

PM comes to orphan's rescue

RUDRA KHADKA

NEPALGUNJ, Sept 6: Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has made arrangements for schooling of a boy whose father committed suicide following allegations that his son stole a laptop.

Ramesh Chaudhary, 12, of Manpurtapara-5, Bardiya, was orphaned after his father Bhagawan Das committed suicide on August 25, a day after he was detained by police for the alleged crime of his son.

Ramesh´s education looked doomed following the death of his father who worked as security guard at Bright Future Academy in Nepalgunj to finance his studies after the boy´s mother married another man.

But Prime Minister Nepal has decided to take charge of the fifth grader´s education and directed the chief district officer (CDO) of Banke, Basu Dev Dahal, to send the boy to Kathmandu. “The prime minister has directed me over the phone to send Ramesh to Kathmandu. We are preparing to send him as soon as possible,” CDO Dahal confirmed.

Nepal has reportedly made arrangements for Ramesh´s studies at the Little Angels School in Hattiban, Kathmandu. "The prime minister asked us to make arrangement for his studies and we agreed," said Umesh Shrestha, the founding principal of Little Angels.

A police team reached the boy´s house at Manpurtapara Sunday following the prime minister´s directive but had to return empty-handed as the mourning rites have not been completed.

“We will bring the boy to Nepalgunj and send him to Kathmandu after completion of the 13 days of mourning (on Monday),” Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Binod Ghimire said.

Synopsis of the incident

The boy was accused of stealing a laptop from Nepalgunj Education Studies (NES) near his school Bright Future Academy last December. The laptop of NES Proprietor Ram Prasad Upadhyaya was found at the home of Ramesh´s relative 10 months later.

Bhagawan Das, 42, was then detained by the ward police office on August 24 following a complaint by Upadhyaya and his partners Bishnu Prasad Shrestha and Deepak Chaudhary while Ramesh was held captive on the NES premises.

Bhagawan Das and Ramesh were released on condition of paying Rs 15,000 for repair of the laptop by August 27 and the father had even submitted the amount immediately after being released by borrowing Rs 8,000 from a relative. The case was closed but the honest man committed suicide the night he was released after losing his dignity.

The father had an impeccable record since starting to work at the school six years ago. “He had not committed a single mistake during his six-year service. He may have committed suicide due to shame,” said the principal of the school, Kamal Shahi. “He had always maintained that his son hadn´t stolen the laptop,” Shahi added.

Following the prime ministerial intervention, police have now initiated action against the proprietors trio of NES -- who had also manhandled the father and son -- filing a case of kidnapping.