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NEPAL: Extra-judicial killings of three young men at Hasandaha VDC of Morang District

November 11, 2004

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

11 November 2004
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UA-151-2004: NEPAL: Extra-judicial killings of three young men at Hasandaha VDC of Morang District

NEPAL: Extra-judicial killings; Arbitrary arrest; Rule of law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that three young men, namely Bishwanath Parajuli (also called Nagendra Parajuli), Tomnath Poudel and Dhan Bahadur Tamang, of the Hasandaha Village Development Committee (VDC) in Morang, Nepal, were shot dead by security forces on 28 September 2004. No proper inquiry was conducted before their execution.

This incident took place while the security forces, under the command of Eastern Pritana Headquarter, Itahari, searched for Maoist supporters in the village on September 27, where they arrested about 16 young men. For your reference, we have produced summarized statements of the families of the three men killed.

We call for your urgent intervention into this matter. Please urge the government of Nepal to order an immediate investigation into this case and bring the perpetrators to justice without delay. Please also urge the government to strictly instruct the army and the police to stop ongoing illegal arrest, detention, torture and extra-judicial killings against civilians.

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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DETAILED INFORMATION:

At about 7:30pm on 27 September 2004, a group of security forces, under the command of Eastern Pritana Headquarter, Itahari, approached the Hasandaha Village Development Committee (VDC) in Morang district, Nepal. Some of them were in uniforms while others were in plain clothes. Upon arrival at the village, they proceeded to arrest the youth in the village for several hours. The people from Pathari Bazar were in particular targeted, as the security forces suspected that they might attend a march in Pathari Bazar, which was organized by the Maoist rebels on the same day.   

At about 8:00pm, the security forces went to the house of Mr. Indradev Chandrabansi (40), a teacher of the Ram Janaki Primary School, and ordered him to open the school gate. When he told them that the headmaster had the key, they ordered him to smash the padlock of the door. According to Mr. Chandrabansi, when he went to the school with the security personnel, he saw six or seven young people lying in the schoolyard with their faces covered by their own clothes and their hands tied behind their back. He did not recognize the arrested people, except Batoran Chandrabansi from the same village, as their faces were covered.

In the meantime, security forces arrested Raju Paswan, who is suspected as a Maoist, and arrested more young people, including Arjun Kavirath, Ashok Mandal, Dilip Mandal, Bishnu Kavirath, Bimal Raut and Mukesh, based on the information provided by Raju Paswan. All of the arrested were brought to the school. The security forces then interrogated all the arrested youth regarding their support to the Maoist rebels and involvement with the Maoist activities in the village. According to the victims who were released the next morning, the security forces held them at gunpoint the entire night while forcing them to provide the detailed information of the Maoist rebels in the area. Some of them were kicked with boots and beaten with rifle butts.

The next morning (September 28), the security forces shot dead three persons, namely Bishwanath Parajuli, Tomnath Poudel and Dhan Bahadur Tamang. They then took four persons, namely Ramesh Neupane, Purushottam Acharya, Raju Paswan and Mitthu Paswan, and released the others on the condition that they report to the Itahari Barrack the next day. Neither the villagers nor the released victims know the exact number of the arrested people as their faces were covered and they were not allowed to see each other. The fact finding team of local human rights groups have identified 16 persons up to now.


STATEMENT OF THE FAMILIES OF THE THREE KILLED MEN (translated from Nepalese)

1. Rajendra Parajuli, 28 years old, an advocate by profession, resides in Hasandaha-7, Morang (an elder broter of Bishwanath Parajuli)

"My brother had worked in India for about five years. He worked as a cheap laborer there, but he could not earn enough money to support our family. Therefore, he came back to Nepal three months ago so that he could make arrangements to go to other foreign countries like Malaysia where he can earn more……However, his medical checkup revealed that he has Hepatitis B…… Since then, he was taking a rest at home.

On September 27, he went to see a Dhami [a traditional healer] for his treatment in the evening. I heard that he went with his friend, Tomnath Poudel. The next morning, my family called my workplace in Damak and told me that my brother died. When I saw his dead body, I found that he had two gunshots, one on his stomach and the other on his chin, and his guts had come out.

I was so surprised when I heard the security forces claimed in Radio Nepal the next day that they had killed Maoists. I challenge them to prove his affiliation with the Maoists. My brother was not affiliated with any political party. He used to work in India for several years and just got back home three months ago. When he discovered his illness, he always worried about his health and visited doctors and traditional healers one after another. The security forces killed an innocent person. This is the way hey make more Maoists."

2. Mother of Tomnath Paudel, permanent resident of Hasandaha-7, Morang

"My son used to repair watches and bicycles once he got free time from his studies.  He was not involved with any political parties. He was a naive man. On September 27, he asked me whether he could accompany Biswanath to go to see a Dhami for his treatment. I waited him but he did not come back home that night. I thought he might go to his friend's house.  
 
Next day, I heard that my son's dead body was lying near to the road. People tried not to let me go there, but I rushed to see my son's body. I could not breathe when I saw it. I do not remember how I came back home. They could have arrested him if they had any suspicion that my son was involved in the Maoist activities. They would have known about him if they had kept him only for a day. Why did they take his life?

I am sick. I cannot sleep at night. I was taken to a clinic but yet I do not feel any relief. I feel of being unconscious at once. I feel burning on my chest all the time. Nothing has been left now." 

3. Bhakta Bahadur Tamang, 58 years old, permanent resident of Hasandaha-7, Piple, Morang (a relative of Dhan Bahadur Tamang)

"At about 5:00pm of 27 September 2004, he returned home after playing football in the village. After asking his wife to prepare a dinner, he went out to village at about 6:00pm and did not come back home till midnight. The next day early in the morning, I heard the sound of six firings in the village. Soon after that I heard sad news. I went the incident place. There were three dead bodies. Tomnath's dead body was at eastern side of the road, some 20 meters away from Biswanath's body. Dhan Bahadur's body was lying down at the western side of the road, some 50 meters far from Biswanath's body. There were marks of rope on Dhan Bahadur's hands, which suggested that he had been tied with his hands before being shot. His right eye was coming out. He had two gunshots, one on his chest and the other on his upper abdomen. His abdomen was covered with blood……

The dead bodies were left whole day on the spot. We could not take Dhan's body because security personnel said that if anyone touched the bodies, they would face the same fate. Even the family members could not touch the body…... At about 5:00pm, some Maoists came to the village and buried the dead bodies on the streamside of the Pathari…… Some people identifying themselves as Maoist came to my house and informed us that Dhan Bahadur was working with their party for a year. However, they said that the other two, Bishwanath and Tomnath are did nothing to do with their party."

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter to the addresses below and express your concern about this serious case.

Sample letter:

Dear __________,

Re:  NEPAL: Extra-judicial killings of three young men at the Hasandaha VDC of Morang District

I am deeply concerned by the killings of three young men, namely Bishwanath Parajuli (also called Nagendra Parajuli), Tomnath Poudel and Dhan Bahadur Tamang by the security forces at the Hasandaha VDC in Morang District, Nepal on 28 September 2004.  

This incident took place while  the security forces, under the command of Eastern Pritana Headquarter, Itahari, searched for Maoist supporters in the village on September 27, where they arrested about 16 young men. They also took four persons, namely Ramesh Neupane, Purushottam Acharya, Raju Paswan and Mitthu Paswan, who were recently found in Morang prison. They have been detained under "preventive detention".

It is a fundamental principle of law that if any person commits a crime, he/she should be arrested and prosecuted by the criminal justice system in their country in any circumstances including armed conflict. However, in this incident, this basic principle was ignored by the law enforcement officers (security forces), who have the responsibility to protect its own citizens. Instead, they arbitrarily arrested, detained, and tortured the young boys, mostly juveniles, and even executed three of them, without any proper inquiry.  

In light of this, I urge you to immediately intervene into this matter and ensure that an impartial and thorough investigation be conducted into the circumstances surrounding this incident. Action must be taken against the perpetrators without delay. I also urge you to ensure that the four persons detained in Morang prison be allowed to access judicial remedies. Lastly, I urge the government of Nepal to strictly instruct the security forces to stop ongoing illegal arrest, detention, torture and extra-judicial killings against civilians.

If the government of Nepal does not take immediate and genuine action to stop extra-judicial executions, forced disappearances, torture and the repression of civil society, the rule of law in the country will collapse and it will take a long time for it to be restored.

Thank you for your attention.

Yours truly,


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SEND A LETTER TO:

1. Hon. Sher Bahadur Deuba
Prime Minister
Office of the Prime Minister
Singha Durbar, Kathmandu
NEPAL
Tel: +977 1 228555 or 227955
Fax: +977 1 4 227 765 / +977 1 227286
Email: hmg@es.wlink.com.np 

2. Mr. Mahadev Yadav
Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
Ramshahpath, Kathmandu, 
NEPAL
Tel: +977 1 4 262548 (direct line)/262394 (through Personal Assistant)
Fax. +977 1 4 262582
Email: fpattorney@most.gov.np

3. Lieutenant Colonel Raju Nepali
Head Royal Nepal Army Human Rights Cell
Royal Nepalese Army Headquarters
Singha Durbar
Kathmandu
NEPAL
Fax: + 977 1 4 226 292 or 245 020

4. Mr. Nain Bahadur Khatri
Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission
Pulchowck, Lalitpur
NEPAL
Tel: +977 1 5 547 974 or 525 659 or 547 975
Fax: +9771 5 547 973
Email: nhrc@ntc.net.np

5. Mr. David Johnson
Senior Human Rights Advisor
C/o UNDP, UN House
P.O. Box: 107
Pulchowk, Kathmandu
NEPAL
Tel: +977 1 5 524 366 / 5 523 200
Fax: +977 1 5 523 991 / 5 523 986
Email: david.johnson@undp.org

6.  Mr. Philip Alston
Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions
Att: Lydie Ventre
Room 3-016
c/o OHCHR-UNOG, 1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9155
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (general)
E-mail: lventre@ohchr.org

7. Professor Stephen Toope
Chairperson
Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances
Attn: Ms. Tanya Smith
C/o OHCHR-UNOG,
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9176
Fax: +41 22 917 9006
E-mail: tsmith@ohchr.org

8. Ms Manuela Carmema Castrillo
Chairperson
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 


Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-151-2004
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.