UPDATE (Nepal): Police refused to register First Information Report (FIR) into the custodial death of a girl in Kavre, Dhulikhel 

[RE: UA-22-2004: NEPAL: Three young persons shot dead by security personnel and a girl among the victims was gang-raped before being killed in Pokahari Chauri-4, Kavre District]

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the District Police Office (DPO) in Kavre, Dhulikhel refused to register the First Information Report (FIR) that the mother of murdered Maina Sunuwar wanted to lodge to initiate investigations into her daughter’s death in custody of the Royal Nepalese Army.

Fifteen-year old Maina Sunuwar, the daughter of Devi Sunuwar, was arrested by a group of around 15 Royal Nepalese Army personnel at her home in Kharelthok, Kare, on 17 February 2004.  The soldiers were looking for Maina’s mother, Devi Sunuwar, who had reportedly witnessed the gang rape and killing of her niece by security personnel earlier the same month. (Please view our urgent appeal on this case UA-22-2004).  The family have attempted to establish her whereabouts and visited the Lamidada army barracks, the Dhulikhel Police Office and Shanti Gate army barracks, but officials repeatedly denied that she was being detained there.  Witnesses, however, alleged that two girls had been brought into the Shanti Gate army camp on the morning of February 17 in a vehicle reportedly driven by an officer named Captain Niranjan.

Reports indicate that Maina was blindfolded, tied to trees and beaten for hours.  On April 21 a national weekly published a letter, allegedly signed by members of the army, in which it is claimed that Maina was tortured and killed as a result of electric shocks applied to her breasts.  Since her disappearance the security forces have provided different stories to the family members ranging from denying they had arrested and detained Maina, to her having been killed in an encounter with the security forces.  What is more, the Police have also claimed that they have conducted a post mortem examination on Maina’s body and then handed it over to her family.  But the family has yet to receive the body and there is absolutely no evidence that a post mortem examination has been conducted.

It was only in October 2005 that the army made a public statement announcing that Maina was found dead in an unspecified army barracks and that three officers, Colonel Babi Khatri, Captain Amit Pun and Captain Sunil Adhikary, were found guilty of the improper conduct in relation to Maina’s killing during a military court martial and were sentenced to between 6 months and 2 years imprisonment.  The question of improper conduct reportedly related to the fact that the officers did not conduct a post mortem examination or hand the body over to the victim’s family and not concerning the fact that Maina was forcibly abducted from her home and allegedly tortured to death.  For that offence so far no-one has been made accountable.

We feel that such action by the Nepalese forces is not satisfactory since, according to Nepalese law including the Army Act of Nepal, military courts do not have jurisdiction over major crimes such as rape or murder against civilians committed by military personnel.  Thus, the murder of Maina must be tried in a regular civilian court.

Devi Sunuwar has attempted to have the case brought before a civilian court and approached the District Police Office (DPO) in Dhulikhel to ask for an investigation into the case.  However, the police have refused to register the complaint and to provide a receipt, which is required as per the law.  This demonstrates how difficult it is for victims of human rights violations to gain access to justice mechanisms in the country.

Several prominent human rights organizations in Nepal and a representative from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights were present when Devi Sunuwar went to the DPO. Despite this Deputy Superintendent of Police (Dy.S. P.) Sanjaya Singh Basnet refused to register the case due to the involvement of the military, and that it was even too sensitive to explain why the case was being refused.  According to Nepalese law (State Cases Act) the police have to register any information regarding a crime of this nature and they have to provide the receipt of the registration to those who have provided the information.  The action of Dy.S.P.Sanjaya was in direct contravention of the State Cases Act and indicates the apparent disregard that state officials show concerning the law in the country.

Devi Sunuwar then went to the Chief District Officer (CDO) at the District Administrative Office who registered the complaint, but stated that it had no legal validity since according to the State Cases Act the complaint has to be registered by the police. This is not correct: under the provisions of the State Cases Act, if a police officer refuses to register a complaint, the complainant can go to a higher police authority or the CDO to have the complaint registered.

The AHRC are very concerned with this case, it has been over a year now since the alleged torture and murder of Maina Sunuwar but no satisfactory or transparent investigation has been launched, or action taken against the perpetrators.  We therefore call upon your immediate action to write to the relevant authorities urging them to order the registration of the FIR in question.    We also ask for a prompt and impartial investigation to be launched into Maina Sunuwar’s death and for the perpetrators to be brought before a competent civilian court.  If proven guilty, the perpetrators must be sentenced under the provisions of the law and the victim’s family must be awarded prompt and adequate reparation.  Once a date is scheduled for the hearing, the trial must be fair and impartial, only then can justice be achieved. More importantly, protection must be offered to Maina Sunuwar’s family and all persons assisting them in lodging the complaint concerning Maina’s death.

Finally, the AHRC realizes that this is just one of many of cases concerning the problems that prevail in Nepal, notably: arrest and illegal detention by the Royal Nepalese Army; forced disappearances; brutal torture, including that resulting in custodial death; and the total impunity that the perpetrators are able to enjoy for these grave acts.  We therefore call on you to urge the authorities in Nepal to ensure that the practice of unconstitutional and illegal detention of civilians by the armed forces is immediately halted, and that any allegations of torture, rape and custodial death by the armed forces are fully and transparently investigated by an independent body and are tried before a civilian court.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please send a letter to Mr. Ian Martin, Chief of Mission Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights – Nepal Office, and other concerned government agencies to raise your concern on this case.

 

 

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER