BIRATNAGAR: had just reached my rented apartment in Khandbari at around 9pm yesterday. As I was getting ready for dinner, my phone rang and I walked out of my room to the street and got busy in the conversation with him. Then I saw Bikas Rai and Rupak Rai coming towards me. Both of them asked me if I could go for a walk with them. They were under the influence of alcohol. I refused, but they held me and forced me to walk towards a meadow nearby. Then I spotted that Bikas was carrying a weapon. Anyway, Bikas is a professional criminal here and fearing that my refusal might land me in trouble, I kept walking along with them. No sooner had we reached a gorge near Tundikhel than both of them began assaulting me. First they punched me here and there and then out of the blue I felt excruciating pain; they attacked me with a khukuri. Had I not ducked in the nick of time, they would have chopped my head off. “Aren’t you the one who was raising an issue between a husband and his wife in the public?” they asked, as their brutality continued. I passed out soon after. If my memory serves me correctly, Bikas was asking Rupak to dump my body in my room. I think they presumed me dead. By the time I regained consciousness today morning, my sisters had already left for the college. I called Yogendra BK, who along with Chhetu Sherpa, came to meet me. I have no enmity with the perpetrators. But I think they wanted to kill me over a news report aired on a local FM about a month ago. The news included my statement as well in which I had spoken about violence against women at a public programme in the district.
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