NEPAL: A young man inhumanly tortured by the security personnel and requires urgent medical treatment 

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is calling for your urgent intervention regarding the horrific torture in Nepal of a 27-year-old young man, Lokendra Khadka. He was illegally arrested by plain-clothed security personnel from the army barracks in Sinhadarbat at his sister’s house on 24 July 2005 and inhumanly tortured until the next day.  He fainted many times while being tortured but was not provided medical attention at all. He was released on July 25 after the security personnel concluded that he was innocent.

His condition is very serious now but the hospital where he was admitted did not render appropriate treatment to him as security personnel are involved in his case. His condition is critical and he may die if he fails to receive proper treatment. Meanwhile, his sister’s family is receiving threatening calls from unknown persons after they reported the incident to a local human rights group. The family fears for their lives and is afraid of taking the case to the court because of these threatening calls.

We urge you to write a letter to the Chief of the UN Mission in Nepal to provide immediate medical treatment to the victim, investigate this case and take urgent measures to ensure the security of the victim and his family.

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
————————————————————-

DETAILED INFORMATION:

Name of the victim: Lokendra Khadka, 27 years old, originally from Panchkanya VDC-1, Sunsari District, temporarily residing at his sister’s house in Kapan, Kathmandu, Nepal
Alleged perpetrators: Several personnel of the Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) from the barracks in Sinhadarbat
Date of incident: 24 July 2005
Place of incident: Army barracks in Sinhadarbat
Current status: Urgent need for medical treatment and full security for victim and his family

Case details:

At around 5:00am on 24 July 2005, 6-7 plain-clothed security personnel carrying guns arrived at the house of Lokendra Khadka’s sister in Kapan, Kathmandu, Nepal, banged on the door and called Lokendra’s name. Lokendra was sleeping at the time. When he woke up and opened the door, they asked, “Who is Lokendra?”  When he said that it was him, they immediately seized him. When frightened Lokendra’s sister and brother-in-law asked the reason for his arrest, they just flashed their identity cards from a distance but did not allow them to be read. When the brother-in-law argued that they could not take Lokendra without reason, one of the security personnel put a gun to his head and threatened him, saying that he would be shot dead if he dared to open his mouth again. They then dragged Lokendra out of the house. Before leaving the house, the security personnel told the couple to call phone number 105 if they want to contact them. The AHRC is in the process of trying to find out under which government office muber 105 is registered.

The security personnel loaded Lokendra onto a pick-up van with registration number 3638 and parked the vehicle some distance down from the house. They then tied Lokendra’s hands behind his back and hooded his face. The driver started the vehicle and as the vehicle drove, they started torturing him. One of them started pulling the flesh and hairs of his stomach and nipping the muscles of his arms, while the others pounded him over his head. They also pulled his genitals hard several times. Because of this, Lokendra still suffers from pain and cannot urinate easily.  He fainted out of pain but when he gained sense, they tortured him again. They continuously tortured the victim for about 30 minutes while driving the victim around.

Lokendra was then taken to an army barracks in Sinhadarbat at around 6:00am and kept in a room where he was questioned by the army personnel. They said, “You are a Maoist. Tell us how many donations you have extorted.” They inhumanly tortured him and gave him electric shocks on both ears whenever he denied the allegation. He fainted again. He doesn’t know how long he was unconscious. When Lokendra recovered his sense, he found that he was being hit with bamboo sticks. They also put water in his nose. Lokendra fainted many times due to the unbearable pain. His face and mouth swelled badly as a result of the electric shocks and assaults.

They stopped torturing Lokendra for about 30 minutes. After that, 3-4 security personnel came into the room and tied his hands at his front and forced him to lie on the floor. They then began to step on Lokendra’s stomach in turn and punched his chest, persistently accusing him of being a Maoist. Although he insisted on his innocence, they said that they would not stop torturing him until he confessed. They tortured him until 10:00pm, keeping his face hooded and his hands tied.

At 6:00am the next morning (July 25), several security personnel approached Lokendra again and said that he would be tortured to death if he did not confess to being Maoist. When he denied this, he was brutally tortured again. Finally, Lokendra could not bear the pains and he begged them to shoot him dead so that he did not need to suffer. He even told them that he would sign a suicide note so that his death would not create any problem for them. But they did not listen to him and continued torturing him until 9:00am. His condition was very critical but they did not provide any medical attention to him.

At about 9:30am, security personnel came to the room and told the victim that he was innocent and took his sister’s phone number to ask her to pick him up. At around 11:00am, they took him out of the room and took his signature, then handed him over to his sister. His sister took him to Kathmandu Medical College of the Teaching Hospital of Sinamangal immediately. However, the hospital did not render appropriate treatment to the victim after knowing that security personnel were involved in the incident.

Lokendra’s condition is serious and he needs treatment badly. He is still having acute pain in his stomach and cannot eat. When he eats, he throws up everything immediately. He feels severe pain in his head and his right-hand fingers are numb. He also cannot walk due to extreme pain on his legs.

In the meantime, the victim’s family has received threatening phone calls several times from an unknown person, after Lokendra and his sister reported the incident to a local human rights organization. According to Lokendra’s sister, the caller hung up the phone after saying, “Where is Lokendara? What is he doing?  Well, it seems that he needs some more.” The family fears for their lives and is afraid of taking the case to the court because of these threatening calls.

The AHRC is deeply concerned by this serious case. We urge the UN Mission in Nepal to take immediate action to provide medical treatment to the victim and ensure the security of him and his family. We also urge the Mission to enquire into this incident and take the necessary action against those responsible.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write a letter to the Chief of the UN Mission in Nepal and urge him to take up this serious case immediately.

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