Nepal: release of 15-year-old torture victim

Case NPL 281103.2.CC Release/Child Concern Geneva, January 30th, 2004 The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Nepal. New information The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by a reliable source of the release on January 1st 2004, of 15–year-old (not 17 as stated in the UA NPL 281103.CC and NPL281103.1.CC) boy Manoj Rai, who had been arbitrarily detained and tortured since September 2003. OMCT welcomes this decision by the Nepali authorities and wishes to thank all the persons and institutions that intervened on his behalf. However, according to the information received, some important irregularities were recorded in Manoj's release, no compensation was provided to the victim and no steps were taken against those responsible of the boy's illegal detention and torture. Background Information According to the information received, an NGO filed a Habeas corpus in the Supreme Court on Manoj Rai's behalf on November 28th, and during the court's first hearing, the police denied the allegations of illegal detention and torture. They also refused to communicate the whereabouts of the boy and assured that he was not being detained. However, this information is in contradiction with the NGO's one, according to which its lawyers visited him on November 26th at the Hanumandhoka District Police Office, after having been alerted of his situation from other detainees there. After that, Manoj was in fact not seen anymore at Hanumandhoka and was reported missing. In December 2003, the NGO reportedly received some information according to which Manoj was transferred from the Hanumandhoka District Police Office to the Wada Police Office Baudha in Kathmandu. The NGO then requested the National Human Rights Commission to make a surprise visit to this place, which they made on December 24th. The National Human Rights Commission indeed found the boy there and wrote a letter to the court, confirming that Manoj Rai was being held there and that he had been illegally detained for more then 3 months (2 months and 3 days in Hanumandhoka and 27 days in Boudha). On January 1st 2004, the police reportedly released the boy. This action preceded the hearing in the Supreme Court on January 2nd, in which the boy's release was also ordered. However, the NGO's lawyers also demanded the court to take action against those who were lying to the court (stating that they had never detained the boy) and to provide compensation to the boy for the illegal detention as well as the torture he suffered. Those two requests have not been retained by the Supreme Court of Nepal. The NGO is now preparing another case on contempt of Court, which will be filed this week, in order to take steps against those responsible for the alleged acts of torture and perjury, as well as to request adequate compensation for the young victim. OMCT supports those claims and recalls that Nepal, as state party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is bound to the provision that (art.37 (a)) "no child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" under any circumstances. OMCT also wishes to recall the Nepali Authorities responsibility under Art. 39 of the Convention, which states that "States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to promote physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration of a child victim of (…) torture or any other form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (…)." In addition, the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty states that (art. 7) "States should (…) provide effective remedies for their breach, including compensation when injuries are inflicted on juveniles". Brief reminder of the situation Manoj Rai was arrested on September 27th 2003 at around 10 p.m. from Hattigaunda, Kathmandu. He was taken to the Hanumandhoka District Police Office. He was neither given any letter of arrest nor produced to the court. According to his testimonial, he was taken to the KERKAR (interrogation Section) where he was beaten for about 20 minutes with bamboo stick on both of his soles of feet, back and thigh. They punched him on his head about 4/5 times. He was not provided food for two days. After four days, again he was taken to the same room and beaten for half an hour with slap on both ears and with plastic pipe on his back. He was forced to tell the name of some thieves and was compelled to confess a crime which occurred in the house of his landlord, Bal Kumar K.C. After 20 days of his arrest, again he was beaten for about 10-12 times with sticks on the soles of his feet, head, back and especially on his thigh. In the following days, every morning he was forced to clean the floor. The police only gave him the food brought by his father and did not allow him to meet his father. He was not allowed to meet any other relatives. On November 26th 2003, lawyers from the NGO visited Manoj at his detention place. However, two days later detainees of the Hanumandhoka District Police Office reported that Manoj was missing. A guard confirmed that he was not in their custody anymore and that he had been released. But Manoj Rai was nowhere to be found and the authorities neither acknowledged his arrest nor his supposed release. After a Habeas Corpus was filed in the Supreme Court by the NGO, the court asked the police authorities to reply whether they have arrested him and, if so, to produce him before the court. Action requested : Please write to the authorities in Nepal urging them to: i. take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological recovery of Manoj Rai, in order to ensure his effective and full reintegration in the civil society; ii. guarantee adequate reparation to Manoj Rai; iii. order a thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances of his arbitrary arrest and torture, in order to identify those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law; iv. take all necessary measures to ensure respect for the international human rights instruments to which Nepal is party, especially the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which includes respect for the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment. Addresses : Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa, Prime Minister's Office, Singha Durbar, Kathmandu, Nepal, Fax:+ 977 1 4 227 286 General Pyar Jung Thapa, Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Army Headquarters, Kathmandu, Nepal, Fax + 977 1 4 242 168 Brigadier General B A K Sharma, Head, Army Human Rights Cell, Army Headquarters, Kathmandu, Nepal, Fax: + 977 1 4 226 292 / 229 451 Gyanendra Raj Rai, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Head, APF Human Rights Cell, Armed Police Force (APF), Halchowk, Swayambhu, Kathmandu, Nepal, Fax: + 977 1 4 411 384 Shyam Bhakta Thapa, Inspector General of Police, Police Headquarters, Naxal, Kathmandu, Nepal, Fax: + 977 1 4 415 593 / 415 594 Ambassador, Acharya, Gyan Chandra, Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Nepal, 81 rue de la Servette, 1201 Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +4122 7332722, E-mail: mission.nepal@ties.itu.int Please also write to the embassies of Nepal in your respective country. Geneva, January 30, 2004 Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.