Ankit Adhikari,Manish Gautam

At home after 18 long years, Govinda Mainali’s joy of reunion started with renewed introduction among the family members on Saturday. After arriving in Kathmandu at around 12 noon, Mainali was driven to his Shankhamul-based home where he interacted with family members, instantly recognising some, while taking little longer time to get familiar with others.

Mainali, who hails from Ilam district, was given a clean chit on June 7 in a 1997 rape and murder case after erroneously serving 15 years of “life sentence” in Japan. The 15-year-old court verdict turned awry after a recent DNA test proved Govinda’s semen did not match the samples collected from the dead woman’s body. Eventually, following a retrial, Govinda was acquitted of all the charges.

Upon arrival at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), Govinda touched the ground with his hands in obeisance to his motherland. When he hugged his mother Chandra Kala, who was there to receive him, the free man in black suit and a hat wore a smiley face. However, with dozens of national and international journalists trying to get as closer to the family as possible, tension ran high at the TIA lounge. Following a minor dispute between the police and journalists, a group of kin led Govinda to his home in Shankhamul where a puja was held to welcome him. 

“Although the happiness we were sharing was immense, Govinda looked stressed from the very beginning,” said Shakuntala Ghimire, Govinda’s niece. “He refused to talk much with anyone.” Ghimire said that Govinda even faced some problems with fluency while interacting in Nepali. “He seemed to lose words in between sometimes,” she said. 

Later in the evening, a press conference was held in the Capital to present Govinda before the media. 

When he entered the conference hall jam-packed with hordes of reporters from Nepal as well as Japan, a seemingly nervous Govinda with chewing gum in his mouth, was escorted by his relatives, including elder brother Indra. As he sat on the dais, he nervously asked brother Indra to bring in some more people whom he knew.

Sharing his feelings, Govinda, in a few words, talked of the way he was mistreated in the jail. He spoke of the solitary life, frequent interrogation and tortures the Japanese authority meted out to him. 

“They didn’t even give me proper clothes to put on,” he said. Despite terrible pressure from the authority, Govinda did not confess to the alleged crime. Instead, he kept on fighting, calling on his friends outside to rescue him as soon as possible.

“The first time I met him in 1997, he was already in jail,” said Rajan Pradhananga, former NRN president of Japan chapter and a member of the Justice for Govinda committee. “When he told me that he was imprisoned without committing a crime, I felt so helpless. But later on, I talked with other friends and decided to set up a struggle team on behalf of Govinda. We kept on fighting until the court’s verdict turned topsy-turvy.”

Mainali, who was detained first on “overstay” charge was pressed by the murder charges by the Japanese authority two years following the arrest.

Addressing the press-conference, Gopal Siwakoti, a human rights activist, said Govinda’s case is just an example of Japanese authority’s “xenophobic attitude” towards migrant workers from the third world. “Miscarriages of justice as such have been reported in Japan in 1948, 1970s and after 2000 as well,” he said, terming Govinda’s ultimate victory as a “trial of the century.”

As Pradhanang talked about letters Govinda wrote from the jail, describing his emotions and ordeal, Govinda pressed his lips hard, struggling to push back tears that were already twinkling in his eyes. 

On journalists’ questions if he would ask for compensation with the Japanese government, he remained silent, stating that he was suggested by his lawyers not to talk to anyone about the case until the court releases its final verdict.

Published on: 17 June 2012 | The Kathmandu Post