Case NPL 310507.VAW
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Arbitrary Arrest / Torture / Sexual Violence / Police Abuse
Geneva, 31 May 2007.
The International Secretariat of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Nepal.
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by Antenna International and a reliable local source, about the violent detention and torture of 30-year-old widow, Ms. Kalpana Bhandari.
Ms. Kalpana Bhandari, already a victim of the Maoist violence plaguing Nepal, was arbitrarily accused of setting fire to a government vehicle. As a result of this accusation, she was brutally arrested on 17 May 2007, detained and maltreated for several days by local and Metropolitan police.
According to information received, Ms. Kalpana Bhandari had been working with a private company, using a private vehicle, to support her family. On the day of her arrest, she had just returned from working in the Dhading District to her home in a temporary camp in Tinkune, Kathmandu. The vehicle fire in question had occurred earlier that morning in Kathmandu.
When the police entered the tent that Ms. Kalpana Bhandari was living in, they grabbed her, beat her, insulted her, threatened to rape and kill her – all in front of her children. After an hour of physical and verbal assaults, the police dragged her over the ground to be loaded in a van, where she was kicked repeatedly in the stomach by men wearing boots. The beatings that Ms. Kalpana Bhandari endured were so severe that she lost consciousness and had to be brought to the Maternity Hospital in Thapathali, Kathmandu.
Ms. Kalpana Bhandari’s entire body, including her groin area, was severely beaten and she was bleeding from her uterus. While the doctor advised her to have a video x-ray of her uterus, she was not taken for any further care. Instead, she was given some medicine, transferred to multiple police facilities and held for several days. The charges were suddenly dropped and with no further explanation Ms. Kalpana Bhandari was released.
Ms. Kalpana Bhandari is recovering from the police assault and as such she is no longer driving. She will be taken to a doctor for extensive examination within the next days, as she was not adequately examined while in police custody. The full extent of the ill-treatment she underwent remains unknown for the time being. After a 35-day period, Ms. Kalpana Bhandari will be able to file a torture complaint against her aggressors. However, access to effective remedy in her case is unlikely as no criminal provision on torture has been enacted by Nepal.
There is credible information suggesting that Ms. Kalpana Bhandari was targeted specifically because her husband and father-in-law were both killed by Maoists and she has since been the target of repeated threats. In fact, the threats had gotten so bad, she was forced to resign from her job as a police head constable, and instead take her current job, driving a car, in order to support her family.
Ms. Kalpana Bhandari’s case is a frightening representation of the plight of many victims of Maoist violence now living in Kathmandu. Reports indicate that over 200 Maoist victims are living in Tinkune in tents. Not only have they been subjected to over a decade of violence, but they are being re-victimized and displaced again, as security forces have ordered their tents dismantled. In protest to this treatment, the Maoist victims organized a “Transport Strike” day. However, this only further incensed authorities. There are several examples of individuals from this group of people being the targets of indiscriminate violence, beatings, threats and detention.
The International Secretariat of OMCT is gravely concerned about the arbitrary arrest, torture and detention of Ms. Kalpana Bhandari and the consequences on her physical and psychological integrity. OMCT recalls that according to the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women the Nepalese State shall “exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and, in accordance with national legislation, punish acts of violence against women, whether those acts are perpetrated by the State or by private persons” (article 4.c).
Please write to the authorities in Nepal urging them to:
Please also write to the embassies of Nepal in your respective country.
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Geneva, 31 May 2007.
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
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