NEPAL: Torture victim keeps facing death threats by the local police authorities in Kalikot district

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about alleged torture and death threats of Mr. Puradi Prasad Pandey of Kalikot district, Nepal, from December 2006 to the present. The victim was allegedly arrested by the police members of District Police Office (DPO), Kalikot three times on the charge of being suspect of a murder of his neighbour in December and tortured repeatedly by police officers while in detention. Mr. Pandey has been receiving death threats repeatedly to withdraw the case he filed against the three police officers under the Torture Compensation Act for the alleged torture, arbitrary arrest and detention. 

CASE DETAILS:

According to the information we have received, Mr. Puradi Prasad Pandey, a 20-year-old resident of Manma Village Development Committee Ward no. 9, Kalikot district, was threatened to withdraw the case that he has filed against three police officers of District Police Office (DPO) of Kalikot on 23 February 2007 for the alleged torture to which he was subjected during his detainment for a total of 15 days over different intervals following three arrests.

With assistance from local human rights NGO Advocacy Forum, which has also provided him medical treatment, the victim has filed the written petition in District Court of Kalikot under Torture Compensation Act and demand appropriate compensation for the physical and mental sufferings that he received by the police officers. The written petition was against the three police officers–Sub Inspector Mr. Jagat Bahadur Rawal, Police Inspector Man Bahadur Chaudhary and Assistance Sub Inspector Kamal G.C. of District Police Office (DPO), Kalikot–who are the persons who tortured him during detention.

In response to the petition, on 25 February 2007, the district court issued a summon to all the defendants, asking for written replies. Since the court’s order for the defendants to prepare written statement regarding the allegation of Mr. Pandey, the victim has started to receive threats by words. On February 26, Assistance Sub Inspector of Police (ASI) Kamal G.C. threatened Mr. Pandey to withdraw the case saying, ‘Why did you register the case against police? Do you want to die?’

At around the same time, the victim also received similar threats from the two other police officers who were listed by the victim as perpetrators. Since February 26 to the present, the victim has received similar threats from these three police officers at various places including the local bazaar and at his house to withdraw the case.

On 27 February 2007, four Maoist people came to the house of the victim and threatened him to withdraw the case that he registered against the police. The District-in-charge of Kalikot, Mr. Bhanu Prasad Pandey, one of the Maoists who came to the victim’s house, told him: ‘You have to withdraw case against the police if not you will lose your life’.

It has been allegedly reported that the threat against Mr. Pandey (the victim) is associated with a death of Khat Devkota whose body was found near the house of Mr. Pandey on 14 December 2006. According to the residents who live near the place where the body of Khat Devkota was found, they witnessed Khat Devkota and the Maoist District-in-charge Bhanu Prasad Pandy having quarrels on the morning of the death of Khat Devkota; however, the truth remains unknown. The police identified the death of Khat Devkota as a death by accident and they did not send the body to the autopsy.

Two days after the dead body of Khat Devkota was found, Mr. Pandey was arrested by two security personnel of District Police Officer (DPO) Kalikot who came under the command of the Sub Inspector (SI) Jagat Rawal for being a suspect of the killing of Khat Devkota on December 16. Mr. Pandey was handcuffed and brought to the DOP Kalikot while being beaten by police officers, SI Jagat Rawal and another unidentified officer, with a wooden stick for about 20 minutes until he reached to the police station.

At midnight, on 16 December, the SI Jagat Rawal brought the victim out of the custody room to the field and tortured and interrogated him simultaneously. The officer spoke filthy language to him and said that he saw the victim murder Khat Devkota. When the victim denied the accusation, the officer started to beat him severely all over his body, especially on the soles of his feet, his thighs and hips at least 50-60 times with a thick plastic pipe. Later on the victim was locked inside a custody room without being provided any food for that night. On the following morning, the SI Jagat Rawl again brought the victim out of the room and beat him randomly on his back, knees, hips, and other parts of the body, accusing him of being involved in the killing. He was then released later on December 17 at around 5:00 pm.

However, on 22 December 2006, a team of police of DPO Kalikot under the command of SI Jagat Rawal arrested the victim again and handcuffed and took him to the DPO. SI Jagat Rawal and two other police officers allegedly beat and kicked the victim all over his body particularly on his back, knees and hip with a stick on the way to DPO. At the DPO, the police inspector Man Bahadur Chaudhary beat the victim’s back and legs for about 20 minutes with a meter-long plastic pipe while accusing the victim of killing Khat Devkota.

At around 10:00 pm on that day, the police inspector took the victim out to the field of the DPO. There the inspector Man Bahadur Chaudhary and Jagat Rawal fixed an iron pipe onto two trees and then tied the victim’s legs on the iron pipes, hanging him upside down. Then the police officers started to beat the victim together on both side of the body, especially his legs and back, for about 30 minutes with a plastic pipe and a stick. Because of the severe torture, the victim lost consciousness at that time, and when he awoke he was lying inside of a custody room about two hours later.

On 31 December, the SI Jagat Rawal again interrogated and tortured him in similar practices at around 9:00 pm and forced him to talk about the involvement of a hotel owner Mahendra Chaulagain of Manma Bazaar, Kalikot district, in the murder. Again, the victim denied his knowledge about the involvement of the man whom the police officers had suggested and was beaten severely for another 90 minutes.

The victim then made a false statement to the police officers, saying that Mahendra Chaulagain is the murderer of Khat Devkota, although he did not know whether it is true or not, in order to escape from further torture. The victim was released on 3 January 2007 with a condition that he has to report to the DPO Kalikot every day.

It has been allegedly reported that while the victim was detained in the DPO Kalikot, he was not allowed to see his family members. Even before he was arrested by the DPO officers, he was not produced any official warrant for his arrest. The victim’s family members were also not allowed go inside of the DPO.

According to the information we have received, some other local peoples–Narendra Pandey, Ranga Raj Pandey, Tularaj Pandey, Devi Pandey, Dhanraj Pandey, Nanda Pandey, Saur Pandey and Mahendra Pandey–were arrested by the police on December 22 in relation to the murder of Khat Devkota, and all of them were tortured by the police officers while they were detained. Those people were released on December 23 without being charged.

Yet again, the victim was arrested for the third time by the police officers who came to the victims’ house under the command of Jagat Rawal from the DPO Kalikot on January 21. The victim was severely tortured by the officers and forced to confess that the murder was done by Mahendra Chaulagain again. Then the police officers allegedly prepared a document which describes that the murder of Khat Devkota was committed by Mahendra Chaulagain and forced the victim to sign it without explaining about the subject matter of the paper to the victim. The victim was released on January 22.

It has been reported that the victim has kept suffering from the injuries, both physical and mental, caused by the severe torture during his police custody. The thumb of his right leg is not functioning properly. He is also still suffering from the pain on his legs and ears and blue scars and contusions remain on his body. His trauma caused by the police torture and arbitrary arrest has caused him to occasionally attempt suicide.

The victim has been threatened by the police officers and he is very worried about being arrested and tortured by the police officers again.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write a letter to the concerned authorities listed below, urging them to provide immediate protection to Mr. Puradi Prasad Pandey, and conduct investigation into the alleged torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, and death threats to the victim by the police officers in Kalikot. Please also urge their action in ensuring that adequate compensation, in line with the international standards, be given to the victim in no time.

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