NEPAL: Mentally deficient woman allegedly assaulted and raped by an army officer

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been informed by the Advocacy Forum, a local human rights organization in Nepal, of the alleged rape of a mentally deficient woman by an army officer in Kavreplanchowk district, Nepal on 23 December 2006. We were also informed that for four days since the incident, army officers including the army colonel and the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of the District Police Office (DPO) allegedly attempted to settle the case by offering the money to the victim’s family. Moreover, the DPO initially refused to register the case and even after the case was registered the alleged perpetrator has not been handed over to police custody and remains the custody of the army in violation of the law.

CASE DETAILS:

Purna B.K. (name changed to safeguard the victim’s identity) who is a 40-year-old mentally deficient woman, resides at ward no. 9, Kavre Village Development Committee (VDC), Kavreplanchowk district, Nepal. On 23 December 2006, she was allegedly raped at her house by Mr. Bhakta Bahadur Shahi, a member of the Rudradhoj Battalion Dhulikhel, Kavreplanchowk district. The battalion was stationed in the area to provide security to a telephone transmission tower at Devisthan, Kavreplanchowk district.

At 1:00pm on December 23, Bhakta Bahadur came to the victim’s home to ask for water, while her younger brother, sister-in-law and her niece were at home. Bhakta Bahadur said that he was an army man attached to the Devisthan Telephone Transmission Tower and after a while he left the house along with the victim’s younger brother, who was going to Kathmandu.

Unexpectedly, at about 2:30 pm, Bhakta Bahadur returned to the victim’s house and wanted to buy the maize that her sister-in-law was baking. He talked with her sister-in-law for some time and the left the place. Then, her sister-in-law went to buy some goods at a nearby local market leaving the victim and her 5-year-old niece at home.

At about 3:30 pm Ms. Purna went out to use a toilet when all of a sudden Bhakta Bahadur approached.  He caught her both hands and tried to forcibly take her with him saying that he had some work with her. She sat on the ground screaming and struggled to get away from him but failed. Bhakta Bahadur then punched the victim on the chin, dragged her in a nearby jungle and raped her. There were cuts and bruises on her back from being dragged by him.

The victim said, 
“I lost my consciousness and didn’t know anything for a moment what was going on. But, after a while, I regained my consciousness and found myself lying on the ground stripped naked and the army man was moving over my body. I screamed to avoid rape but he didn’t leave me. At the mean time, some people ran towards me crying and then only he fled the scene…”

The victim told the entire incident to her sister-in-law immediately after she had arrived at home.

For two days on December 24 and 25, several army personnel came to the victim’s house and tried to persuade her brother to settle the case. They even offered him money and asked him not to report the incident. However the victim’s brother refused to accept the bribe.

In the evening of December 26, the victim was taken to Seer Memorial Hospital Dhulikhel with the financial support of the Advocacy Forum for a medical check up. However the doctors could not do it in a proper way as there was no specialist qualified to conduct an examination of a rape victim.

The Obstacles Created to Register First Information Report (FIR)

On December 26, the victim’s family went to lodge the FIR at District Police Office (DPO) of Kavrepalanchowk but the police refused to accept their report.

On December 27, Kopila Adhikari, an advocate from the Advocacy Forum, went to DPO along with the family members to register the FIR again but the army colonel namely Sudarshan Silwal of Rudradhoj Battalion and DSP Mahendra Pokhrel of the same DPO allegedly created obstacles while registering the FIR.

The army colonel Sudarshan Silwal tried to convince the victim’s brother not to register the FIR. The said colonel even told the brother that he could make the victim’s brother satisfied if he had informed the incident to him on that day of the incident. The colonel further said,

“It is better to make compromise rather than going for the legal process. I suspended the army man from his job and kept him in army custody yesterday evening after I had learnt that he had done a mistake. We will give time to the family members to think about the incident before registering FIR to the DPO.”

Similarly, the DSP Mahendra Pokharel also told the family members to think before registering the case and not to listen to whatever the lawyers said. However, the Advocate Kopila Adhikari told them that she came to the DPO along with the family members to provide her legal advice and support because the victim herself reported the entire incident and asked for legal support to her organization.

She also argued with the said colonel as to why he wanted to cover up the incident although he himself admitted that the incident actually took place and he had suspended the rapist and detained him in the army custody. After a long discussion, on December 27, the FIR under rape charge was finally registered at the DPO of Kavrepalanchowk (FIR no. 25).

The army colonel Sudarshan Rijal assured them that he would transfer the alleged rapist Bhakta Bahadur to the DOP by December 28. However, even after the case has been registered, the Bhakta Bahadur is still in the army custody in direct violation of law.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the relevant authorities listed below and express your concern about this serious case. Please urge them to ensure that the police conduct a proper and speedy investigation into the incident without any interference from state officials. Please also urge them to ensure that the alleged rapist is immediately transferred into police custody and proper legal action is taken against him. Please also ask them to inquire about the alleged attempt to cover up the incident by the army officials.

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