Rautahat Police Cease Free Petition Writing Service for Needy Citizens

Rautahat. The District Police Office Rautahat and its subordinate police units have stopped the arrangement of free petition writing for poor and destitute citizens.

The arrangement to write petitions (complaints) free of cost, targeting poor and destitute citizens, was initiated under the direction of the then Police Chief SP Dilip Ghimire. Based on that directive, the system of writing petitions free of cost for victims and providing necessary forms was started at all police offices in the district.

Last year, following the directive of then SP Ghimire on Magh 12, 426 people benefited across the district within a month. According to police statistics, 91 people availed the free service at Area Police Office Chandranigahpur, 55 at Area Police Office Garuda, 29 at District Police Office Rautahat, and 20 at Area Police Office Maultapur.

The police themselves wrote petitions for a total of 234 people, while 192 people filled out the petitions themselves using the format provided by the police.

Previously, victims were compelled to pay between NPR 300 to NPR 700 to petition writers for writing a simple petition.

When the police themselves started writing petitions for free, dozens of petition writer shops operating around various police stations and outposts in the district were also shut down. The residents of the district openly praised this initiative by the police.

However, the arrangement, which continued for some time after SP Ghimire was transferred, has been stopped for the last few months. As a result, the situation has arisen again where affected citizens have to spend money even to get a simple petition written.