Nepal’s protest arson leaves a trail of burning questions: ‘it’s suspicious’
Inspectors suspect some of the blazes, which incinerated more than 450,000 court files, were deliberately set to destroy evidence
The fires have long since been extinguished, but in Kathmandu’s devastated government district, the embers of suspicion still smoulder.
“The extent of the damage was quite shocking,” said Subash Chandra Baral, president of the Nepal Engineers’ Association, citing a preliminary damage assessment undertaken with the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction.
“While some sections of the Supreme Court and the Kathmandu District Court have been spared, others have been completely burned. Rooms with case files have been burned down. So you cannot help but think if this was intentional.”
In the Supreme Court alone, an estimated 20,000 case files – many without digital backups – were lost to the blaze, according to court spokesman Nirajan Pandey.