The police in Nepal’s Sunsari district near the border with India have been enforcing an indefinite curfew over the weekend in a tense situation in the area where violence between neighbors has spread and clashes between neighbors and people of Nepal’s Sunsari region have been spreading after people are fleeing from the region after a deadly outbreak of communal violence that has occurred earlier this week. Sunsari -- located in southeastern Nepal adjacent to India’s Bihar state -- is a key commercial center and a transit corridor between the two nations and is situated in the heart of the country in a region where it is situated in the heart of Nepal.
A civil disturbance broke out in a local religious procession when a dispute about playing loud music and religious flags got out of hand in the way of the two communities and there were violent arguments between people in the vicinity of the event and the police shot to disperse the people. Police quickly reacted and had to respond to the situation and the mob was in such a bad state that they had to fire on them to disperse the crowd. One person was hit in the police fire according to The Kathmandu Post and 22 were injured, including 13 members of the security forces.
As soon as the tragedy took place, Prime Minister Balendra 'Balen' Shah expressed deep sorrow over the loss of life and called for peace and the harmony of the people. The government immediately increased security levels in sensitive areas of Sunsari district and started a formal investigation into the reasons for the violence and launched an investigation into the circumstances of the incident. The administration also announced financial relief to the families of the deceased and injured people and Assistant Chief District Officer Poshan Lamichhane of the district said the family will receive compensation of Nepali Rupees (NRs) 2,00,000 and 50,000 for the injured people will be paid for their medical treatment and the victims will be paid 50,000 each. However, the government is committed to justice and holding to account those who were responsible for the violence to be punished if they are found responsible, it said.
The way law enforcement handled this incident has drawn criticism from human rights activists and security experts who were critical of whether the security forces used excessive force. The government appointed a high-level panel of investigators to investigate and to compile a report within a week. There was also administrative fallout which saw top local officials being transferred (Sunsari Chief District Officer Basudev Ghimire, Koshi Province Police Chief Deputy Inspector General Binod Ghimire, Sunsari Police Chief Keshav Kumar) as they work to resolve the public anger and stabilize the volatile region.
