Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wants to inform you that a torture victim Ms. Sumitra Khawas, who had remained detained at the Area Police Office (APO) of Belbari, has been transferred to the Morang District Police Office (DPO).
UPDATED INFORMATION:
According to the information we have received from Advocacy Forum-Nepal, on 22 September 2008 Sumitra was brought to the Morang District Court by the APO of Belbari for the third time on remand. The district court ordered her to be remanded for an additional 10 days to Morang DPO. Upon the court order, she was transferred to a womans cell in Morang DPO at around 5:45pm on the same day. In its previous urgent appeals on Sumitras case, the AHRC has constantly requested the local authorities to transfer Sumitra to another detention centre, for example Morang District Police Office (DPO) (For details, see: AHRC-UAC-205-2008 and AHRC-UAU-056-2008). She has not made any complaint of ill-treatment so far.
On September 24, a Morang district public prosecutor recorded Sumitras statement regarding the death of her husband, who had died under unclear circumstances on September 9. The APO of Belbari had arrested her on suspicion of murdering her husband and further tortured her to get a forced confession.
Meanwhile, on September 18, Sumitra was taken by the APO of Belbari to Koshi Zonal Hospital for a medical examination, upon the district courts order on September 16. After that, the medical report was submitted to the district court.
Sumitra has not filed any compliant regarding her alleged torture by the APO of Belbari. Upon her request for legal assistance, the Advocacy Forum lawyers are in the process of preparing the complaint.
The AHRC thanks all of you for your great support on this case. We will keep informing you of developments in the case and the situation of the victim.
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrchk.org)
