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NEPAL: The brutal assault of two homosexuals by the Armed Police in Kathmandu

December 16, 2003

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

16 December 2003
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UA-81-2003: NEPAL: The brutal assault of two homosexuals by the Armed Police in Kathmandu

NEPAL: Discrimination based on sexual orientation
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Dear friends

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that two young homosexuals were brutally assaulted by the Armed Police personnel near Ratnapark, central Kathmandu, on 6 December 2003. AHRC is gravely concerned of such regular assault, and torture of homosexuals in Nepal, especially by the police who have duty to protect the citizens.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. AHRC calls for your solidarity to pressure the local authorities to immediately and thoroughly investigate this case and protect the human rights of homosexuals.

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

Name of the victim: Jaya Bahadur Lama (28 years old) and Mani Lama (20 years old)
Alleged perpetrators: Several armed police personnel in Kathmandu
Date of incident: 6 December 2003

The night of 6 December 2003, in Kathmandu, Nepal, two homosexuals, Jaya Bahadur Lama (28 years old) and Mani Lama (20 years old), were severely assaulted by the several Armed Police personnel after some hoodlums told the police that they were homosexuals.

Around 8:00 pm on 6 December, Jaya and Mani, living in Chuchepati, Kathmandu and working at a carpet factory in Boudha, were walking near Ratnapark, central Kathmandu. Some gundas (street hoodlums) came to them and tried to extort money from them. At that moment, night patrolling Armed Police van (Tata Mobile) arrived at the scene. Even though Jaya and Mani were victims and the gundas were suspects, the Armed Police started beating Mani up after the gundas told them that Jaya and Mani were homosexuals. When Jaya tried to stop the police beating up his friend, the Armed Police slapped him.

Then the police threw both Jaya and Mani into the police van. In the van, the police tied up their hands, covered their faces, and forced them to lie face down. While the police drove around for almost one hour, they severely beat Jaya and Mani with boots and rifles in the van. Jaya told the police that he was born homosexual and assured the police that they were members of Blue Diamond Society, an NGO working for the welfare of homosexuals, and offered the police the organization telephone number to call. The police responded hat they would burn down the Blue Diamond Society office and the police became even more brutal.

After about one hour of driving around, Jaya and Mani were taken to an unknown Armed Police camp. There, they were taken to a dark room and about 15 to 20 police men came and started beating them severely. The police accused them of being Maoist. After two hours of assault, the police forced Jaya and Mani to give them oral sex. But they couldn't perform this act even to save themselves from further beating and torture because they were severely injured by the assault. Then the police put Jaya and Mani back into the police van, and again tied them up and covered their faces. After some time of driving a van, the police threw them into the street on 2:00 am the next day (7 December 2003). Jaya was unconscious by that time and the police told Mani not to remove the cover from his face in half an hour.

After half an hour Jaya and Mani removed the covers from their face and realized they were in near Ratopul, near the biggest Hindu temple in Nepal, Pashupatinath. There, they met another police van and explained to them what had happened. Jaya and Mani needed immediate medical treatment but the police did not provide any help, not even some water, after they found out they were homosexuals. The police abandoned them on the street.

Jaya and Mani waited there until 7:00 am and then came to Blue Diamond Society's drop in centre for shelter. Blue Diamond Society immediately took them to the Teaching Hospital after they reported the torture. Due to serious bruises on their backs, doctors have advised them to rest for a week. The Society has filed a complaint with the Armed Police Headquarters, demanding punishment for the perpetrators. Sunil Babu Pant, chairman of the Society, has expressed concern about the regular harassment and assault of homosexuals by security personnel with genuine impunity in Nepal. Even though the police told that they have taken the matter seriously and will take action soon, until now the police have not taken any serious action to investigate the case and arrest the perpetrators.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter, fax or email to the local authorities requesting immediate and thorough investigation into this serious case and punish the perpetrators.

1. Surya Bahadur Thapa,
Prime Minister
Prime Minister's Office
Singha Durbar, Kathmandu,
NEPAL
Fax: + 977 1 4 227 286

2. Shyam Bhakta Thapa
Inspector General of Police
Police Headquarters,
Naxal, Kathmandu,
NEPAL
Fax: + 977 1 4 415 593 / 415 594

3. Gyanendra Raj Rai
Deputy Inspector General of Police, Head, APF
Human Rights Cell, Armed Police Force (APF)
Halchowk, Swayambhu,
Kathmandu,
NEPAL
Fax: + 977 1 4 411 384

4. H. E. Gyan Chandra Acharya
Ambassador
Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Nepal
81 rue de la Servette,
1201 Geneva,
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +4122 7332722
E-mail: mission.nepal@ties.itu.int

5. Mr. Theo C. van Boven
Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture
OHCHR-UNOG
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917-9016

6. Mr. Doudou Diène
Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
OHCHR-UNOG
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Fax: +41 22 917 9006
E-mail: urgent-action@ohchr.org

Sample letter:

Dear

Re: The brutal assault against two homosexuals by the Armed Police in Kathmandu

Name of the victim: Jaya Bahadur Lama (28 years old) and Mani Lama (20 years old)
Alleged perpetrators: Several armed police personnel in Kathmandu
Date of incident: 6 December 2003

I am deeply concerned about the brutal assault against Jaya Bahadur Lama and Mani Lama by the armed police personnel in Ratnapark, central Kathmandu on 6 December 2003. Both of them were severely assaulted by the several armed police personnel after some hoodlums told the police that they were homosexuals, even though Jaya and Mani were victims and the hoodlums were suspected of robbing them. It was a shock to learn that the police officers, who have a duty to protect the citizens of the country, committed such a brutal crime.

According to the information I have received, the police took Jaya and Mani to an unknown armed police camp by police van, and about 15 to 20 police men came and severely beat them there for two hours. After that, the police demanded that Jaya and Mani give them oral sex. Jaya was unconscious for some time and the two were injured because of the torture. However, the police did not provide any medical treatment and thew them on the street. More seriously, another policemen whom they met after the incident refused to provide any help after they found out that they were homosexual. Until now, the police have not taken any serious action to investigate the case and arrest the perpetrators.

Article 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) states that "Each State Party to the present Covenant undertakes to respect and to ensure to all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction the rights recognized in the present Covenant, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status." All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, and homosexuals are also the citizens whom the Nepalese government should protect.

Therefore, I urge you to order an immediate and thorough investigation into this serious case, and bring the perpetrators to justice as soon as possible. I also urge you to fully ensure the victims access to full medical treatment. I further urge the Nepalese government to give compensation to the victims.

Sincerely yours,


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Thank you.

Kim Soo A
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-81-2003
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.