NEPAL: A man severely tortured by the Balaju Ward Police 

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a man named Mr. Ganesh Kshetri (44) was severely tortured by the Balaju Ward Police on 28 August 2004. The victim’s family reported that Mr. Kshetri has completely lost his mental control due to brutal torture and needs urgent medical treatment. The victim suddenly forgets where he is and what he is doing and always tries to hide himself because of fear. The family further reported that the police threatened the victim not to report anything to the media otherwise they would torture him again in the same way.

Your urgent action is required to pressure the government of Nepal to intervene this matter quickly. Please request them to conduct an immediate investigation into this case and bring the responsible officers to justice as soon as possible.

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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DETAILED INFORMATION:

Name of the victim: Mr. Ganesh Kshetri, 44 years old, resides in Kathmandu -16, Balaju
Alleged perpetrators: 1) Uttam K.C, sub-inspector of the Balaju Ward Police Station, 2) B. Pande, assistant sub- inspector of the Balaju Ward Police Station
Period of arbitrary detention and torture: 27-28 August 2004
Place of incident: Balaju Ward Police Station in Balaju-16, Kathmandu, Nepal

Account of the incident:

The Balaju Ward police arbitrarily arrested and tortured Mr. Ganesh while he was in the police custody on 28 August 2004. The victim is suffering from severe injuries and trauma due to torture.

At around 7:00pm on 27August 2004, assistant sub-inspector B. Pande and one police constable from the Balaju Ward Police Station came to Mr. Ganesh Kshetri’s house and looked for him. Both of them were in civilian clothes. They asked Mr. Kshetri to go with them to the police station.  When Mr. Kshetri’s father asked the police about the reason for his son’s arrest, the police replied that they had a new chief at the police station and he wanted to ask some questions to Mr. Kshetri. They promised the father that they would send his son back soon after the inquiry finished.

The police first took Mr. Kshetri to the Banasthali temporary police station where they kept him for ten minutes and ten more police came in a police pick-up van and put him into the van and brought him to the Balaju Ward Police Station. At the police station, the police gave him a blanket saying that he had to stay at the police station overnight as the chief would come to the police station next morning. There were six more persons in the room.

At 10:30am of the next morning (August 28), Sub Inspector (SI) Uttam K.C. called Mr. Kshetri and started to beat him brutally with a pole and kicked him all over his body with his boots without inquiring anything. Other officers joined to torture Mr. Kshetri, but he could not remember how many people assaulted him because he fell unconscious.

When he was woken up, Mr. Kshetri saw his blood around the room and he was still bleeding at the nose. The police came to the room several times to check whether he stopped bleeding or not. The police looked afraid that Mr. Kshetri was continuously bleeding. At around 1:00pm, the police called the victim’s father to the police station to take his son. When the father asked why his son was seriously injured, the police said that the victim fainted and fell down because of a disease so he was wounded. However, according to the victim, he is a healthy man and has no medical record of any serious disease.

The police released Mr. Kshetri on the condition of a Rs. 450 (US$ 6.5) fine. They said that the victim was reported as a drug addict so they wanted to investigate him. However, Mr. Kshetri claims that he is not a drug addict and the police made up the story to hide their crime (torture).  He further reported that the police threatened him and his father not to report anything to the media otherwise they would torture him again in the same way. Until now the police called to Mr. Kshetri’s house several times and checked whether he was alive and whether he reported the case to anyone.

After he was released, Mr. Kshetri’s father took his son to the B & B Hospital at Gwarko, Lalitpur on August 29, and the victim received a treatment until August 31. The victim’s nose and ribs were broken and he lost two teeth due to the torture in police custody. The doctor put five stitches in his nose. Also, his face was so swollen up that the victim could not recognize himself and he had dried blood in his eyes. The victim also complains of severe pain on his back.

Mr. Chandra Tiwari, a relative of the victim, testified that Mr. Kshetri has completely lost his mental control because of torture. Mr. Kshetri has strong pain in his head and sometimes suddenly forgets where he is and what he is doing. Mr. Chandra Tiwari added that the victim always tries to hide himself because of fear and is afraid of seeing his own face.

Meantime, Mr. Uttam K.C. denied torturing Mr. Ganesh Kshetri and claimed that the victim fell down and got wounded on his neck, so the police asked him to go back home and receive a medical check up, which he refused. Then the police called his father to take his son.

The AHRC is gravely concerned about this brutal torture of Mr. Ganesh Kshetri and requests the government of Nepal to intervene in this case immediately and provide appropriate medical treatment to the victim as soon as possible. Sub-inspector Uttam K.C. and the assistant sub-inspector B.Pande must be brought to justice. The victim and his family should be provided protection as well.

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