Om Astha Rai

Dhanisha Devi, whose husband Amar Bahadur Bam is on death row for allegedly being complicit in the murder of an Indian businessman in the UAE, urged President Ram Baran Yadav and Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai on Wednesday to save her spouse´s life.

Dhanisha, along with her father-in-law Karna Bahadur Bam, met President Yadav and Prime Minister Bhattarai separately and asked both of them to save her husband´s life at any cost.

"Think of me as your own daughter or sister and save me from being widowed," Dhanisha told Prime Minister Bhattarai. She made the same plea with President Yadav as well. Both the president and the PM assured her that they would do their best to save Amar.

After meeting the president and the prime minister, Amar´s 64 years old father Karna Bahadur, said, "I am very hopeful now."

Amar, now 34, was arrested by the UAE police for driving Manoj Mudana and Karan Singh Rajput to and from the place where the duo allegedly murdered Indian businessman Sharad Shetty in 2003.

Manoj and Karan, both Indian nationals, have told UAE authorities during interrogation that Amar was not involved in their plan.

Amar has maintained that he was only a driver and was not part of the conspiracy to kill Shetty. His repeated pleas, however, fell on deaf ears and he has been languishing in the central jail of Dubai.

A journey of hope

Dhanisha, 25, a resident of Dhari VDC-5 of Darchula district, had married Amar when she was just 13. Less than a month after their marriage, Amar went to Delhi, where he was worked as a chauffeur, leaving his newly-wed wife alone in the village.

After two months, Amar returned to Khalanga, the Darchula district headquarters, to apply for passports. He spent just one night at his home, which is five hours walk from Khalanga. "He had not told me that he was going abroad," says Dhanisha. "He had promised to take me to Delhi after finding a rented room."

But Amar just disappeared.

Karna Bahadur asked his eldest son Padam Bahadur, who was working as a watchman in Delhi, to search for Amar. But Amar had vanished without a trace. Karna Bahadur gave up his hopes.

Three years ago, a neighbor who was working in India told Karna Bahadur that his son was in a Dubai prison, sentenced to death for murdering an Indian.

"I did not believe it at first," he said.

Dhanisha had thought that her husband might have already died. But when she knew that Amar was still alive and sentenced to death for a crime committed by others, she decided to come to Kathmandu to urge the country´s head of the state to save her husband from being executed.

Dhanisha had to mortgage her Tilhari to arrange money for her visit to Kathmandu. The day Dhanisha and Karna Bahadur left for Kathmandu, there was no bus available due to strike in the far-west. They came to Kathmandu via India.

Published on: 10 May 2012 | Republica