Nepal speaker resigns over rape allegation

The Speaker of Nepal's Parliament resigned on Tuesday over allegation of raping a woman staffer in the federal parliament secretariat. Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara tendered his resignation letter to Deputy Speaker Shivamaya Tumbahamphe, officials said.

In the letter, Mahara said he resigned to allow a fair investigation over the allegations. Earlier, Mahara had denied the allegations by the woman.

In a video released by online news portal Hamro Kura, the woman claims that she has known Mahara for years and that he has behaved indecently with her in the past as well. The woman said Mahara visited her rented room on September 23 while she was alone.

The woman said she tried to stop Mahara, who was in an inebriated state, from entering her home but he did not listen. She alleged Mahara forced himself on her and when she tried to stop him, he abused her.

In the video, the woman displayed blue marks on her body, saying these were the places Mahara struck her. The secretariat of Nepal Communist Party (NCP) had met earlier on Tuesday and decided Mahara should resign from the post of Speaker of the House of Representatives, according to NCP sources.

Spokesperson of the ruling party Narayan Kaji Shrestha said the secretariat meeting decided Mahara should step down to facilitate the investigation against him.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)