Nepalese capital hit by demonstrations demanding death penalty

Aug 12, 2011, 10:02 GMT

Kathmandu - Nepal's capital Kathmandu was hit by strikes Friday, as different groups staged demonstrations and disrupted traffic in support of demands for the death penalty to be imposed on the killers of a high-school girl.

Businesses were closed in Lalitpur district as hundreds of residents took to the streets calling for those who killed Roji Maharjan, who was murdered this week, to be executed.

Her former boyfriend has confessed and is in police custody, along with two men the boyfriend said he had hired for the attack, carried out after Maharjan ended their relationship.

The strike shut down transport, markets and schools.

Nepal has not used capital punishment since 1953, but the protestors say it should be reinstated to deal with rising violent crime.

Abductions and killings have increased as security has weakened due to political instability. In 2010, 28 children were abducted, of which nine were killed, according to government figures.

Also Friday, former Maoist child soldiers demonstrated in other parts of the city for more support to help them reintegrate into society.

Over 4,000 minors who fought in the Maoist insurgency during a decade-long civil war were disqualified for army service by the United Nations when it emerged they had been underage combatants.

After discharge from camps last year, the former child soldiers were given vocational training which they said was inadequate.

In addition to improved rehabilitation, they are also demanding compensation for fighters injured during the insurgency and for the families of those killed.

Police detained 150 former child soldiers from different parts of the capital for disrupting traffic.