KATHMANDU, Jun 1: After the temporary bench of the High Court Janakpur in Birgunj ruled that no evidence proved the victims were burned alive, questions emerged about their whereabouts. Shri Narayan Singh, the 84-year-old father of Trilok Pratap, asked, "If no one burned them in a brick kiln after stuffing them into sacks, then where is Trilok Pratap?"
He rejected the High Court's verdict and demanded answers. "If the court could not confirm the killing, then the government must find my son," he said.
Despite his age, he pledged to keep fighting for justice as long as he lives. "What more proof do you need? Where is my son? The government must find out. Whether he is alive or dead, they must tell us. We are ordinary people," he said.
Trilok was 22 when he died and the youngest son of Shri Narayan. He studied Political Science at Goenka College in Sitamarhi, India. A committed Nepali Congress supporter, Shri Narayan sent his son to support the election campaign at the request of Mohammad Aftab Alam.
While studying, Trilok actively contributed to the campaign—writing speeches and managing publicity efforts. "I was born in a country where politicians carry the law in their pockets," his father said. "A judge's position should embody justice."
After the court acquitted Nepali Congress leader and former minister Mohammad Aftab Alam, citing a lack of evidence, the question resurfaced: where are the people who were killed?
A joint bench of High Court Judges Khusiprasad Tharu and Arjun Maharjan concluded that no evidence proved the victims were burned in a brick kiln. But if the court's ruling holds true, then where are those reportedly stuffed into sacks and burned? Shouldn't the authorities have found either survivors or bodies?
In Rautahat, people regard Mohammad Aftab Alam as a powerful and influential leader, and filing a police complaint against him required considerable courage. After the court acquitted Alam, several locals said fear had increased among witnesses and the victims' families.
Eyewitnesses described what they saw
On the evening of Chaitra 27, 2064 BS (April 9, 2008), a day before the first Constituent Assembly election, a bomb exploded at around 6 pm at Sheikh Idris's house in Rajpur, Rautahat. Eleven neighbors from the area gave statements to investigators about the blast and later testified in court.
Mohammad Aftab Alam, Mohammad Mahtab Alam, Sheikh Seraj, Sheikh Bhadai, Mohammad Mobin, Fazle Haq, Sagir Alam, and Sheikh Jumai-members of the Sheikh Malakar community-surrounded the area and blocked everyone from entering. Two or three people administered injections to the injured.
They forced away anyone who tried to see what was happening. "Although they chased us away, we hid and watched. They stuffed the dead and injured into sacks and loaded them onto a tractor trolley owned by Mohammad Mahtab Alam, which Gaurishankar Sah drove. They took the trolley to Raja Brick Factory, owned by Alam's relatives. All the accused, including Badri Sahni, threw the dead and injured into the brick kiln chimney and burned them," the witnesses said.
Another eyewitness testified, "When they told us to leave, I moved back. I saw them pulling people out of the sacks one by one and throwing them into the brick kiln. I can't say how many there were. Some must have been alive because I saw movement inside the sacks."
After they heard the explosion from Sheikh Idris's shed, the witnesses rushed to the scene to see what had happened.
"When we arrived, the explosion had destroyed the roof and walls of the shed. We saw around 15 to 16 people injured. Two had already died. Some had lost their eyes, some their ears. Some had no heads, while others were missing hands or legs," the witnesses said. "We saw one injured man, known as Pintu-his real name was Trilok Pratap Singh Rajput-who had lost his left leg, right hand, and ear. Oshi Akhtar Miya had lost his left hand. All the injured writhed in pain."
The Rautahat District Court sentenced Mohammad Aftab Alam and three others to life imprisonment based on the case file and evidence. Eyewitnesses who reached the scene during the bomb explosion saw the accused stuffing the injured into sacks and loading them onto a tractor. The court ruled, "The accused threw the injured into the brick kiln chimney and burned them to death."
On April 25, 2024, Judge Matritaka Prasad Acharya of the Rautahat District Court stated in his judgment, “Mohammad Aftab Alam, Mohammad Mahtab Alam, Sheikh Seraj (also known as Shesh Saraj), and Badri Sahni committed offenses under Sections 1 and 13 of the prevailing Muluki Ain (Civil Code) related to homicide, and we sentence them to life imprisonment.”