NEPAL: Police keep incommunicado and torture a young man by water pouring and using chili powder in Banke

Dear friends, 

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the alleged of torture of Atiram Rana by a group of policemen from District Police Office, Banke on 12 April 2011. The policemen, as many as twelve of them, used chili powder and inflicted water boarding on the victim. The victim was kept in illegal detention for six days and it was only after filing a habeas corpus writ that he was given a detention letter. At the habeas corpus hearing, the judge ordered the policemen to stop inflicting torture on the victim. At the time of writing, the victim is still held in the custody of the police station where the alleged perpetrators are posted and is in dire need of medical treatment. 

CASE NARRATIVE: 

According to the information we have received, Mr. Atiram Rana was arrested from his shop in Shamsergunj VDC-7, Hawaldarpur, Banke district on allegations of murder on 12 April 2011 at around 3pm by a team of police officers from District Police Office, Banke. He was then brought to the DPO, Banke for interrogation. He was not given any detention letter until 18 April and therefore kept in illegal detention for six days. 

At around 10pm on the day of his arrest, Atiram was taken to the top floor of the police station and was interrogated about the incident, reportedly under brutal torture to force him to confess. Ten to twelve unidentified policemen in uniform were present at the scene. The victim was blindfolded and forced to lie on the floor. The police officers held his legs and hands while others beat the soles of his feet with sticks. The policemen also reportedly put chili on his mouth and nose. The victim was also tortured by the pouring of water into his nose and mouth to create the feeling of drowning. The victim suffocated and urinated involuntarily. Also, the policemen reportedly applied electric shocks on his right toe, struck the various parts of his body and kicked his groin. They reportedly stepped on his body turn by turn and threatened to force water into his penis through a pipe. The victim became half conscious and does not remember how long the tortured lasted, what they asked him and what he answered. 

The victim was then detained at the DPO. His name was not registered in the police record, and he was not given any detention letter. He was kept in illegal and incommunicado detention for six days. The victim was only given an arrest warrant and a detention letter on 18 April 2011, following the filing of a habeas corpus writ which was heard on 17 April at the Appellate Court, Banke. 

At the time of the hearing, the judge noted the physical and mental condition of the victim and understood that he had been subjected inflicted serious torture. The judge therefore ordered the police not to inflict further torture on the detainee but took no action against the officers for the torture already perpetrated as the writ was filed under habeas corpus. Accordingly no investigation has been launched into the case so far. 

He was remanded for the first time on 19 April for 5 days with an effect from 18 April, for the second time on 23 April 2011 for 10 days and for the third time on 3 May 2011 for 8 days. Following the habeas corpus hearing, the victim has not been inflicted any torture by the police. The victim was sent to District Jail, Banke, pending trial, after jail hearing on 11 May 2011. 

On 20 April, the victim was taken to the hospital with a letter from the police station. The doctor wrote “No External Injury” on the same letter and signed but there is no stamp of the hospital. He did not receive any medical treatment and is in need of immediate medical attention. The victim complained of swollen penis, pain in all over the body, headache and dry tongue/mouth. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: 

According to the Evidence Act, 1974, statements obtained as a result of torture are not admissible as evidence in a court of justice. Nevertheless, torture is still routinely used by the police to conduct investigations by extracting forced confessions from the victim. In this case, it is imperative that statements made by the victim during the torture session be rejected as non-admissible by the court in the case pending against him. 

The victim’s fundamental rights, including his right to be free from torture and illegal detention, have therefore allegedly been abused, which requires legal redress. Those rights have been protected and entrenched in the 2007 Interim Constitution of Nepal. 

It prohibited the use of torture in Nepal and stated in its article 26 that “(1) No person who is detained during investigation, or for trial or for any other reason shall be subjected to physical or mental torture, nor shall be given any cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. 
(2) Any such an action pursuant to clause (1) shall be punishable by law, and any person so treated shall be compensated in a manner as determined by law.” It is remarkable that four years after such provisions were included in the constitution no law has been adopted to effectively criminalize acts of torture enabling impunity to prevail. 

Further, the fact that the victim was kept in detention for six days without being brought before a judicial authority is a violation of the article 24 of the 2007 Interim Constitution which mandates that “Every person who is arrested shall be produced before a judicial authority within a period of twenty-four hours after such arrest, […] and no such a person shall be detained in custody beyond the said period except on the order of such authority”. Being kept incommunicado further exposes the victims to arbitrary detention and ill-treatments. 

The violation of the fundamental rights of the victim requires the State to offer that victim an effective judicial remedy, according to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which involve an impartial and thorough investigation to be conducted without delays, prosecutions against the perpetrators and compensation to the victim. Nevertheless, in spite of the frequent occurrence of torture in the course of investigations, not a single perpetrator of torture has been convicted by the court in Nepal, denying the victims’ right to a legal remedy. 

SUGGESTED ACTION: 
Please join us in writing to the following authorities asking for immediate medical treatment to the victim, his transfer to another place of detention and an immediate investigation into those allegations of torture, leading to legal action against the perpetrators. 

Please be informed that the AHRC will write a separate letter to the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and to the Field Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Kathmandu, calling for their intervention in the case. 

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