Nepal: rape and murder of a 14 years old girl

NPL 121004.CC CHILD CONCERN Rape and murder / Impunity The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Nepal. Brief Description of the Situation The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), a member of OMCT network, of the murder and rape of Sita Sada, a 14 years old Dalit girl, on May 17th, 2004 and of the subsequent police inaction resulting in the impunity of the perpetrators of this crime. According to the information received, on 17 May 2004 at around 11:00 p.m., at least ten masked men kicked open the door of Sita Sada's family house, insulted and abused Mr. Tiru Sada, Sita's father, then several men went to the room where Sita and her mother Ramwati Sada were sleeping while three men stayed to neutralize Sita's father. The men reportedly forced both women to come out of the room, they hit Ramwati on the back of her head while she was trying to prevent them from taking her daughter away and dragged Sita and her mother out of the house. Later, when all the men left the house, Tiru Sada waked up the neighbors and they started to look for Sita and Ramwati. They found Ramwati lying unconscious but could not find Sita, though they continued to search for her until next morning. According to the same information, in the morning of May 18th, villagers found Shukhi Lal Urau, one of the alleged perpetrators, while he was sleeping under a bridge far from the village with the bamboo sticks allegedly used in the attack scattered around him. Villagers handed him over to the officers of the Inaruwa District Police Office. Upon his arrest, Shukhi Lal Urau confessed that he and his friends had gone to the victim's house. Sita Sada's dead body was found in the morning of May 19th, buried near the place where Shukhi had been found sleeping the previous day. The body was naked with her teeth knocked out of her mouth. According to postmortem report conducted at the District Hospital at Inaruwa, Sita has been raped and then killed by suffocation. The police arrested more than ten men named by the villagers and Sita's family as suspects. But all of them were released after their relatives and other upper caste villagers came to the police station and pressured the police to release them. These persons claimed that the suspects could not have committed such a crime, because they belonged to upper castes. All suspects were therefore released on the day of their arrest and no further investigation was conducted. Shukhi Lal Urau was the only suspect that was kept in detention for two months, but he was also finally released upon the testimony of a woman, Kamali Urau, testifying that she has been with him the whole night of May 17th. After these events Mr. Tiru Sada's family moved away, because they feared for their security. The International Secretariat of OMCT is gravely concerned about this case of rape and murder of a 14 years old child, and the impunity the perpetrators have benefitted from. The OMCT calls on the authorities in Nepal to launch a prompt, thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances of these events in order to bring those responsible to justice. The OMCT also calls on the authorities to guarantee the security of Sita Sada's family and to award them adequate compensation. Action requested Please write to the authorities in Nepal urging them to: i. Order a thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances of this event, in order to identify those responsible, bring them to trial and apply the penal and/or civil sanctions as provided by law; ii. Guarantee the security of the victim's family and award them adequate compensation; iii. Guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms, including children's rights, throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards. Addresses

• Hon. Surya Bahadur Thapa, Prime Minister, Office of the Prime Minister, Singha Durbar, Kathmandu, Nepal, Tel: +977 1 228555 or 227955, Fax: +977 1 4 227286/227765


• Shyam Bhakta Thapa, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Police Headquarter, Maharajganj, Kathmandu, Nepal, Tel: +997 14 412432/412737 (direct), +997 14 414985 (residence), Fax: +977 14 415593


• Shyam Bahadur Khadka, Superintendent of Police, District Police Office, Sunsari, Nepal, Tel: +(977) 25 560 728, Fax: +(977) 25 560 211


• Mr. Nain Bahadur Khatri, Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Pulchowck, Lalitpur, Nepal, Tel: +977 1 5 547 974 or 525 659 or 547 975, Fax: +9771 5 547 973, Email: nhrc@ntc.net.np

Please also write the embassies of Nepal in your respective country. Geneva, 12th October 2004 Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.