Emboldened by the near absence of the Government, the Maoists have launched what they call a “crime control” operation across the country resulting in one death and left at least one person with a broken limb.

According to human right groups a Rajbanshi tribal was allegedly killed as a result of excessive torture by the Maoists in east Nepal’s Jhapa district. The Maoists handed over the body to the deceased’s family with instruction that they should cremate the body without a postmortem. The terror-stricken family complied, the rights groups told The Indian Express.

In another gruesome incident, a Nepali Congress (Democratic) worker was released after days in Maoist captivity in Kathmandu, but not before his ribs and other bones were broken. The victim who refuses to be named for fear of further reprisals by the Maoists was operated on in a private hospital in Kathmandu and the doctor who operated on him says he will need at least six weeks to be able to move around.

But the Maoists who have officially been observing ceasefire for the past five months do not see anything wrong in that. Pawan Man Shrestha, chief of the Rashtriya Mukti Morcha, a Maoist affiliate, said this was party’s drive was against criminals, and they had released most of the 37 they arrested in Kathmandu by October 21.