NEPAL: Alleged brutal torture and attempted rape of a woman by Police

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from Advocacy Forum, one of the leading human rights organizations in Nepal providing legal aid services to detainees that a woman was brutally tortured and suffered and sexually molested by the police on grounds that she was involved in setting fire to a government vehicle in Kathmandu on 17 May 2007. The manner of torture was so cruel and yet no action has been taken by government authorities to investigate and punish those responsible. The victim filed a case against the alleged perpetrators under the Torture Compensation Act, 1999. However, the Act only allows victim compensation that does not match international standards and does not provide any means of prosecution or punishment of cases of torture.

CASE DETAILS:

At noon on 17 May 2007 Kalpana Bhandari, a 30 year-old widow and driver, who had been staying in a temporary camp in Tinkune of Katumandu since January 2007 was informed to leave the tents by the police personnel under the command of the police inspector Mr. Jayaram Sapkota of Gausala Metropolitan Police Sector and police inspector Mr. Hira Bahadur Pandey of New Baneshowar Metropolitan Police Circle. At that time she was preparing lunch for her children (one son and one daughter). As soon as a group of armed and uniformed male personnel under the orders of two inspectors arrived in the area, two groups of police entered her tent and arrested Ms. Kalpana on the charge of being a suspect in the arson attack of a government vehicle. As far as we are informed, her name was not mentioned as a suspect but that she was arbitrarily arrested her on the grounds that two unidentified men and women were seen setting the vehicle on fire.

The police inspector Mr. Jayaram Sapkota destroyed all the food Ms. Kalpana had prepared although her children were waiting to eat. While the men inside the tent caught her by the hair and manhandled her, the police inspector then allegedly ordered a police constable to rape her. Then, Mr. Jayaram made her lie down on the ground and kicked her with his boots and sticks on her groin and breasts. The beating by the police continued for around one hour and with filthy language they threatened to kill her. After inflicting this torture upon her some police dragged her for about 500 meters to a police van. Inside the police van she was laid face down and then kicked; all the while the police inspector threatened to kill her. She was even beaten with sticks on her arms and head during transferring to Shinghadarbar Metropolitan Police Circle, Kathmandu. She asked for water on the way to the police station and one of the policemen told another officer to urinate into her mouth. After she was brought to the police station, she was kicked and pushed.

She was covered in blood from her uterus and other parts of body by the beating and soon became unconscious. She was taken to maternity Hospital Thapathali, Kathmandu, for treatment. The doctor prescribed some medicine and discharged her, advising that she needed to have an x-ray of her uterus. However no further medical treatment had been granted.

She was arrested by the security personnel of New Baneshowar Metropolitan Police Circle, and Gausala Metropolitan Police Sector Kathmandu but brought to the Shinghadarbar Metropolitan Police Circle, Kathmandu. On the day following day her arrest she was transferred to Metropolitan Police Rance, Hanumandhoka, Kathmandu where she had been detained for 4 days. However, she was again taken back to Shinghadarbar Metropolitan Police Circle, Kathmandu.

She was released on 25 May, 2007 from Metropolitan Police Circle, Singhadarbar, Kathmandu after the complainant dropped his complaint. It is reported that Kalpana’s health is currently still in bad condition and that she is mentally disturbed due to torture. She plans to file a Torture Compensation Case with the help of Advocacy Forum on 5 June 2007.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Kalpana’s husband, named Krishna Bahadur Bhandari, was a sub police inspector. He was killed in a clash that took place between Maoists and security forces in April 2002 at Bhakundebesi of Kavre district. A week later after his death, the Maoists demanded one hundred thousands rupees from his father Deepak Bhandari while he was in mourning. As he was not able to pay the large amount, he was then abducted and killed by the Maoists. The mother in law also died following the death of her husband and her son. Kalpana had been working as a police head constable at District Police Office, Dhulikhel, Kavre district but she resigned it after receiving repeated death threats from the Maoists.

After these unfortunate incidents, she left her home along with her a son and a daughter and came to Kathmandu. In Kathmandu, she started driving a car in a private company in Lalitpur district. She had been living in a rented room in Lalitpur with her children. After being victimized by Maoists, she also joined some programs organized by Maoists victims’ group. Since, January 2007, she also stayed in Tunkune, Kathmandu, making a temporary tent and continually working as a driver.

There were other some 200 Maoists victims as well. The families of the victims of Maoists have been staying in the temporary camps at Tinkune, Kathmandu and demanding respectful rehabilitation, compensation, and employment for them. Those families have been victimized by Maoists more than a decade long armed conflict in the country.

On 17 May 2007, security forces from Gausala Metropolitan Police Sector and new Baneshowar Metropolitan Police Circle, Kathmandu come by two vehicles came to the place where Maoists victims have been staying and made an announcement to everyone to leave the tents. As the Maoists victims did not heed the announcement the forces started dismantling the tents and seized clothes and other items as well. Some of the Maoists victims had gone out the camps as they have called the day ‘Transportation Strike’. The security forces arrested more than a dozen Maoists victims in different places with different charges. Some of the Maoists victims were charged of arson and others with trying to gather for the ‘Transportation Strike’.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The Constitution of Nepal prohibits the practice of torture. Nepal is one of state parties to the UN Convention against Torture and it has a domestic law, entitled the Torture Compensation Act, 1996. However, the Act is ineffective as a tool for preventing torture and enabling the prosecution of cases of torture. The Act falls short of the standards set in the Convention. It allows victim compensation which does not coincide with international standards and it even lacks of means of prosecution or punishment of cases of torture. Only does allowing compensation to torture victim work as a mechanism to give impunity to the responsible for cases of torture. (To learn more about the Act please see AHRC 2005 HR report on Nepal Chapter)

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the concerned authorities listed below, urging them to punish those responsible though immediate and thorough investigation into this case and provide medical treatment and proper compensation to the victim. The AHRC is also writing to UN Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture and Violence against Women for its consideration.

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