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NEPAL: Army shoots and kills 12-year old girl

July 16, 2007

URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal

 

16 July 2007
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UA-225-2007: NEPAL: Army shoots and kills 12-year old girl

NEPAL: Extra-judicial killing; impunity
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information concerning the alleged extra-judicial killing of 12-year old girl Kamala Shah by a member of the Nepalese army on June 23, 2007. The police have still not registered an FIR or begun investigating this serious incident, which is providing impunity to those responsible for Kamala Shah’s death.

CASE DETAILS:

Kamala Shah had been living in a rented room for the last one and half years, around 100 meters from Bajradal Battalion, under the guardianship of army constable Mr. Atibal Pulami of Bajradal Battalion, Magdi district, and his wife Sita Pulami. Sita Pulami had taken Kamala with her when she went to Nepalgunj, in Banke district, to visit her elder sister. Kamala is the daughter of Sita Pulami's elder sister's relative. Kamala’s family had agreed to send her to live with Sita Pulmai to improve her life, and she had been studying in grade 6 in a local school. At the time of the incident, Mr. Atibal Pulami, was in Kathmandu for training.

According to an eyewitness, Mr. Krishna Prasad Acharya, Kamala was washing her hands and face in a nearby tap after having eaten. Krishna Prasad Acharya was near the tap with his child. At around 9:45 am, on 23 June, 2007, and the army personnel who was in the Four Number Sentry Post some 20 to 25 metres away, Mr. Bhimsen Thapa of the Bajradal Battalion, Magdi district, opened fire on her for no apparent reason. Kamala was hit in the lower left cheek by the bullet, which exited from her right ear.  Other eyewitnesses corroborate this version of events.

After the incident, locals requested some members of the army to rescue her, but the latter refused to taker action. According to Krishna Prasad Acharya, the army even told them not to worry for her health, even though she was soaked with blood and crying with pain and clearly in a critical condition. The villagers were helpless to help her they had no means of transportation with which to take her to the nearest hospital.
 
It was only some 25 to 30 minutes after the incident had taken place that the 4 or 5 army personnel that had arrived on the scene finally took action and carried the injured but still alive Kamala into the military barracks. They blocked any of the villagers, including her family members, from entering the barracks. Villagers staged protests from outside, calling for immediate action to be taken against the member of the army who had opened fire on Kamala.

It has been revealed that Kamala was then taken to the Magdi District Hospital for treatment, without informing her family. She was then transferred to Manipal Hospital, Pokhara and from there to Kathmandu for further treatment. According to the battalion’s Colonel Navajeevan Mahara, Kamala died on the way to Kathmandu while she was being transported there by helicopter. A post-mortem examination was carried out at TU Teaching Hospital in Maharajgunj, Kathmandu on June 26, 2006.

Following the incident, Kamala's father, Bharat Jung Shah, tried to register a First Information Report (FIR) at the Metropolitan Police Circle, Balaju, Kathmandu, however the police authorities refused to register the FIR, stating that the incident did not take place in their locality. However, these authorities wrote a letter to the Magdi District Police Office (DPO) ordering them to register the case. On July 8, 2007, members of Nepalese NGO Advocacy Forum talked to Police Inspector Bir Bahadur Pulami of the Magdi DPO, regarding the FIR. The Police Inspector, who is in charge there now, in the absence of the Deputy Inspector of Police (DSP) said, "we have already received the letter from the Metropolitan Police Circle, Balaju, Kathmandu, however we are trying to meet the victims' family before registering the case." The police inspector also claimed that the army has started an investigation. The FIR, is still not registered and there are serious doubts concerning the veracity of claims that the army are investigating this case. Regardless of whether or not they are, this incident should be investigated by the police and anyone found responsible should be tried in a civilian court.

According to persons in the village in which this incident took place, three separate firing incidents by Bajradal Battalion sentry guards have taken place before. In August 2006, a shot was fired resulting in damage to one person’s home. Separately, another shot resulted in damage to a grain storage facility. In another incident a shot was fired and nearly hit Mr. Binod Subedi. Kamala died as the result of a fourth such incident.

It is vital that the police conduct a full investigation into this incident, which tragically resulted in the death of 12-year old Kamala Shah, without obstruction or interference by the army, enabling those found responsible to be tried in a civilian court. In order for this to occur, the FIR must be registered by the police without further delay or excuses. The authorities can send an important message that they no longer tolerate impunity by taking appropriate action concerning this case.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the relevant authorities listed below demanding their urgent intervention into these cases.

To support this appeal, please click here:

Sample Letter:

Dear ___________,

NEPAL: Army shoots and kills 12-year old girl

Name of victim: Kamala Shah
Alleged perpetrator: Mr. Bhimsen Thapa, a member of the Bajradal Battalion, Nepal Army
Place of incident: Bajradal Battalion Four Number Sentry Post, Magdi district
Date of incident: June 23, 2007

I am writing to express my grave concern with regard to a case of extra-judicial killing of a 12-year old girl, Kamala Shah, by a member of the Nepalese army on June 23, 2007 and the subsequent lack of investigation on the part of the police.

Kamala Shah had been living in a rented room for the last one and half years, around 100 meters from Bajradal Battalion, under the guardianship of army constable Mr. Atibal Pulami of Bajradal Battalion, Magdi district, and his wife Sita Pulami. Sita Pulami had taken Kamala with her when she went to Nepalgunj, in Banke district, to visit her elder sister. Kamala is the daughter of Sita Pulami's elder sister's relative. Kamala’s family had agreed to send her to live with Sita Pulmai to improve her life, and she had been studying in grade 6 in a local school. At the time of the incident, Mr. Atibal Pulami, was in Kathmandu for training.

According to an eyewitness, Mr. Krishna Prasad Acharya, Kamala was washing her hands and face in a nearby tap after having eaten. Krishna Prasad Acharya was near the tap with his child. At around 9:45 am, on 23 June, 2007, and the army personnel who was in the Four Number Sentry Post some 20 to 25 metres away, Mr. Bhimsen Thapa of the Bajradal Battalion, Magdi district, opened fire on her for no apparent reason. Kamala was hit in the lower left cheek by the bullet, which exited from her right ear. Other eyewitnesses corroborate this version of events.

After the incident, locals requested some members of the army to rescue her, but the latter refused to taker action. According to Krishna Prasad Acharya, the army even told them not to worry for her health, even though she was soaked with blood and crying with pain and clearly in a critical condition. The villagers were helpless to help her they had no means of transportation with which to take her to the nearest hospital.
 
It was only some 25 to 30 minutes after the incident had taken place that the 4 or 5 army personnel that had arrived on the scene finally took action and carried the injured but still alive Kamala into the military barracks. They blocked any of the villagers, including her family members, from entering the barracks. Villagers staged protests from outside, calling for immediate action to be taken against the member of the army who had opened fire on Kamala.

It has been revealed that Kamala was then taken to the Magdi District Hospital for treatment, without informing her family. She was then transferred to Manipal Hospital, Pokhara and from there to Kathmandu for further treatment. According to the battalion’s Colonel Navajeevan Mahara, Kamala died on the way to Kathmandu while she was being transported there by helicopter. A post-mortem examination was carried out at TU Teaching Hospital in Maharajgunj, Kathmandu on June 26, 2006.

Following the incident, Kamala's father, Bharat Jung Shah, tried to register a First Information Report (FIR) at the Metropolitan Police Circle, Balaju, Kathmandu, however the police authorities refused to register the FIR, stating that the incident did not take place in their locality. However, these authorities wrote a letter to the Magdi District Police Office (DPO) ordering them to register the case. On July 8, 2007, members of Nepalese NGO Advocacy Forum talked to Police Inspector Bir Bahadur Pulami of  the Magdi DPO, regarding the FIR. The Police Inspector, who is in charge there now, in the absence of the Deputy Inspector of Police (DSP) said, "we have already received the letter from the Metropolitan Police Circle, Balaju, Kathmandu, however we are trying to meet the victims' family before registering the case." The police inspector also claimed that the army has started an investigation. The FIR, is still not registered and there are serious doubts concerning the veracity of claims that the army are investigating this case. Regardless of whether or not they are, this incident should be investigated by the police and anyone found responsible should be tried in a civilian court.

According to persons in the village in which this incident took place, three separate firing incidents by Bajradal Battalion sentry guards have taken place before. In August 2006, a shot was fired resulting in damage to one person’s home. Separately, another shot resulted in damage to a grain storage facility. In another incident a shot was fired and nearly hit Mr. Binod Subedi. Kamala died as the result of a fourth such incident.

I strongly urge you take all measures necessary to ensure that the police conduct a full investigation into this incident, which tragically resulted in the death of 12-year old Kamala Shah, without obstruction or interference by the army, enabling those found responsible to be tried in a civilian court. In order for this to occur, the FIR must be registered by the police without further delay or excuses. The authorities can send an important message that they no longer tolerate impunity by taking appropriate action concerning this case.

I look forward to your prompt intervention into this matter as a matter of urgency.

Yours sincerely,

----------------------------------------

PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mr. Krishna Sitaula
Home Minister
Singha Darbar
Kathmandu
NEPAL
Fax: +977 1 4211232
Email: moha@wlink.com.np 

2. Mr. Yagya Murti Banjade
Attorney General
Office of Attorney General
Ramshahpath
Kathmandu
NEPAL
Fax: +977 1 4262582
Email: attnoney@mos.com.np

3. Chairperson
National Human Rights Commission
Pulchowck, Lalitpur
NEPAL
Fax: +977 1 5547973
Email: complaints@nhrcnepal.org or nhrc@nhrcnepal.org 

4. Mr. Om Bikram Rana
Inspector General of Police
Police Head Quarters, Naxal
Kathmandu
NEPAL
Fax: +977 1 4415593
Email: info@nepalpolice.gov.np  

5. SP Mr. Navaraj Silwal
Police HR Cell
Human Rights Cell
Nepal Police
Kathmandu
NEPAL
Fax: +977 1 4415593
Email: hrcell@nepalpolice.gov.np 

6. Bi.Pra.Bha.Do. General Rookmangud Katawal
Chief of the Army Staff of the Nepal Army (NA)
Army Headquarters
Bhadrakali, Kathmandu
Kathmandu
Nepal
Fax: +977 4 269624
Email: dpr@nepalarmy.mil.np

7. Jag. Brigadier General Mr. Birendra Prasad Aryal
Human Rights Directorate
Nepal Army Headquarter
Bhadrakali, Kathmandu
NEPAL
Fax: +977 1 4245020
Email: na_humanrights@yahoo.com or humanrights@nepalarmy.mil.np

8. Professor Philip Alston
Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions
Attn: Lydie Ventre
Room 3-016
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9155
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR EXECUTIONS)

Thank you

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrchk.org)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-225-2007
Countries :
Issues :
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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.