Some reckon the media has overdone Nirmala Pant rape-and-murder. There are seemingly other vital issues, including other similar cases. Such distraction would be dangerous. The 13-year-old native of Kanchanpur district who was brutally raped and murdered is no more an isolated victim. She is rather an emblem of the state’s apathy to even the most-pressing concerns of its people. Nirmala’s bereaved parents have met just about every influential politician and bureaucrat, including the prime minister, to press for justice. More important, hundreds of thousands have protested to put pressure on the government.

If Nirmala’s parents are still denied justice, there is little hope that a common Nepali, who has no such support, will tomorrow get justice in a similar case. As our main story this week illustrates (See Page 7), Nirmala’s friends and family are still traumatized. Local girls dread going to school alone. The whole of Bhimdatta municipality is steeped in fear. Yet the police, whose role has been dubious from the start, is nowhere close to apprehending the real culprits, even as it has paraded a few fake ones.

A young girl was raped and murdered in broad daylight, and in an area within easy reach of local police and army installations, and yet the investigators seem clueless. One thing is clear: some powerful people want to protect the real culprits. It remains to be seen whether the prime minister too wants to protect them or whether he stamps his authority to credibly assure people that the government cares about them.