NEPAL: A 14-year old Dalit girl raped and murdered by a group of upper caste men 

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Sita Sada, a 14-year old Dalit girl, was raped and killed by upper caste men on 17 May 2004. According to our information, while Sita was sleeping at night, more than 10 men came and dragged her out of the house. Two days later, a farmer discovered Sita’s naked dead body with her teeth knocked out near the riverside far from her home. The postmortem report by the District Hospital in Inaruwa said that she was raped and killed by suffocation.

Even though the suspects were arrested, they were released on the same day due to the protest of their family and relatives, all belonging to the upper class. Although one of them was held in the District Police custody for two months, he was released after one girl gave false testimony. Since then, however, no proper inquiries into the case have been conducted and Sita’s family was forced to move to another place for their safety.

Your urgent action is required to intervene in this matter. Please urge the local authorities to conduct an immediate impartial investigation into this case and prosecute the responsible perpetrators. Adequate compensation and protection should also be provided to the victim’s family.

Urgent Appeals Desk

Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

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DETAILED INFORMATION:

Name of the victim: Sita Sada, 14 years, student of grade 7, resides in 6 Inaruwa, Sunsari, Nepal
Date of incident: 17-19 May 2004
Place of incident: the victim’s residence in 6 Inaruwa, Sunsari
Alleged perpetrators: 1) Shukhi Lal Urau, 2) Chun Chun Chaudhary, 3) Arun Chaudhary, 4) Amod Chaudhary, 5) Dipesh Chaudhary, 6) Prabhu Pandit, 7) Rambilash Pandit, 8) Chandeshwor Chaudhary, 9) Jaganath Chaudhay, 10) Parmeshwor Chaudhary 11) some other men

Case details:

Sita Sada (14), a Dalit student of grade 7, was dragged out of her home by more than 10 men on 17 May 2004. Her dead body was found two days later, naked and with her teeth knocked out of her mouth. The postmortem report said that she had been raped and killed by suffocation.

On 17 May 2004 at around 11:00pm, while Sita Sada and her family members were sleeping, the alleged perpetrators, masked, kicked open the door. When the door was opened, Mr. Tiru Sada, father of Sita Sada, asked for their identification. However, the perpetrators shouted and abused Mr. Tiru Sada in bad language, and immediately tied him up and pressed his head down on the floor, to prevent him from recognizing them.

Then, the perpetrators entered the next room where Mr. Tiru’s second wife Ramwati Sada and his eldest daughter Sita Sada were sleeping. They forced both women to come out of the house, saying that some of their friends were waiting outside for some inquiry. But both Ramwati and Sita refused to come out. As the perpetrators tried to drag Sita out, Ramwati shouted loudly asking what they were going to do to her daughter. Even though Ramwati tried to obstruct them, they hit her on the back of her head. Ramwati started bleeding and nearly fainted. Then, both Ramwati and Sita were dragged out of the house by some of the perpetrators, while three others were still holding Mr. Tiru down.

After at about five minutes, the three men released Tiru and threatened him, “If you tell anyone about the incident, something bad will happen to you.” After the three men left, Mr. Tiru immediately started waking the neighbors up and told them of the incident. All the neighbors scattered to find Ramwati and Sita. They found Ramwati lying unconscious. When she come to, she said the perpetrators had taken Sita north. While some of the villagers took Ramwati to the hospital, the others went north. Even though the villagers searched for Sita till the next morning, they could not find her.

On May 18 in the morning, the villagers found Shukhi Lal Urau, one of the alleged perpetrators, who was sleeping under a bridge far from the village. They also discovered bamboo sticks around him, which had allegedly been used in the attack and his shirt was stained with blood. They brought Shukhi Lal Urau to the village and asked him about the incident. However, he denied any knowledge about it and said that he had gone to another village to steal goods from a house. Villagers called the police of the District Police office at Inaruwa and handed over Shukhi Lal to the police. After the police came to arrest Shukhi, he confessed that he had come to the victim’s house with his friends.

On May 19 in the morning, a farmer found Sita Sada’s dead body buried near the riverside where Shukhi had been sleeping when the villagers found him. When Sita’s dead body was discovered she was naked and her teeth fell out of her mouth. The police took the dead body and the postmortem was conducted at District Hospital at Inaruwa. The postmortem report said that Sita had been raped and killed by suffocation.

After Sita’s family and the villagers named suspects, more than 10 men from different villages were arrested in relation to the rape and murder of Sita by the police. But the upper caste (Chaudhary and Brahmin) villagers and relatives of those suspects came to the police station and pressured the police to release them. They also alleged that the arrested men could not have committed such a crime because they belonged to the upper caste and were sons of landlords [landowners] in the village. The Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) who was in charge of the investigation then released all of the suspects on the same day they were arrested, with no further investigation.

Only Shukhi Lal Urau was held in the Sunsari District Police Custody in Inaruwa for two months. However, he was also released as the police found him ‘not guilty’. This was because a woman, Kamali Urau, falsely testified that she had been with him that night under the bridge, as she claimed they were in love and had been planning to run away together. Shukhi also retracted his earlier confession that he had been to the victim’s house with his friends that night.

According to the information received, Chun Chun Chaudhary, one of the alleged perpetrators, used to tease Sita prior to her rape and murder. Mr. Tiru Sada had called a meeting in the village and admonished Mr. Chun not to tease Sita. Mr. Chun had said that he would not do so but he had teased Sita again two days before the incident.

After the incident Mr. Tiru Sada’s family was forced to move away, as they no longer felt safe.

AHRC is deeply concerned about the rape and murder of Sita Sada. Even though it happened in May, no proper investigation has yet been undertaken. Furthermore, the victim’s family was forced to move from their residence for their safety. AHRC urges the relevant authorities to conduct an immediate investigation into this case. Proper compensation to the victim’s family should be provided as well as protection.

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