Victim's Details:
Name: Hari Prasad Bolakhe
Date of Incident: December 27, 2003
Age: 35
Address: Phulbhari VDC-8, Kavre District
Nature of Crime: Extrajudicial killing

Perpetrators' Details:
1. Major Krishna Dhoj Thapa of the Satrumardan Battalion stationed at Dhulikhel;
2. Security forces of Satrumardan Battalion, Dhulikhel, deployed on the spot;
3. Major Baburam Thapa of the Satrumardan Battalion stationed at Panauti;
4. Security forces of Satrumardan Battalion, Panauti branch, deployed on the spot;
5. Police head constable Khadga Bahadur Lama of DPO, Kavre District;
6. Other security officers and security men deployed on the spot.

Summary: Hari Prasad Bolakhe, 35 (while missing) a permanent resident of Phulbari VDC-8, Kavre district, a pastor by profession, had been missing since the arrest December 27, 2003, was reportedly killed by security persons. A team of National Human Rights Commission discovered a human skeleton in a jungle of Ganeshthan VDC-1 on July 5, 2006. Following the identification of the skeleton to be that of Hari Prasad Bolakhe after an anti-mortem investigation from Kathmandu Autopsy Center/Department of Forensic Medicine, Institute of Medicine, TU, Maharajgunj.Finally, the skeleton was handed over to the Bolake's family on September 13, 2006.

Case Details of the Incident and Development: On the morning of December 27, 2003, Hari Prasad Bolakhe had arranged to meet his father, Puspa Prasad, at the Banepa bus park. Around 11 a.m., Hari got off a bus but before he could speak to his father the head police constable, Khadga Bahadur Lama from the Kavre DPO approached him. According to witnesses, Lama told Hari that the deputy superintendent of police wanted to see him, forced Hari into a vehicle, and took him away. Puspa Prasad immediately went to the Kavre DPO to complain about his son’s arrest but officials at the police station denied arresting his son. For months Puspa Prasad was unable to locate his son.

Hari Prasad’s name was featured in the third report of the Malegu Committee published by the Home Ministry on October 11, 2004, stating that he was in police custody. On October 12, 2004, Puspa Prasad visited various prisons and army barracks in Bhaktapur and Lalitpur, including the detention centre at Sundarijal, but he could not locate Hari. Hari’s father then filed a complaint with the NHRC, which investigated the case and received information that Hari had been killed. An NHRC team, led by members of the NHRC and a forensic pathologist, located and exhumed Hari’s body on July 5, 2006. During the exhumation, his body, ID card, visiting cards, citizenship certificate, a wrist watch, and the clothes he was wearing at the time of the killing were recovered. The remains were tested at the forensic laboratory at Tribhuwan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu. The forensic report confirmed the body was Hari’s. In its report, the NHRC wrote that a “gunfire injury to the pelvis” was the cause of death. As of August 2008 the NHRC had not made any recommendations in the case.

Official Action: The victim’s family approached the DPO in Kavre accompanied by Advocacy Forum lawyers to register the FIR on October 18, 2006. Police refused, and the CDO was subsequently approached and asked for a few days to study the case. On October 18, 2006, the CDO accepted the case and that same day forwarded it to the DPO with an order to register the FIR and initiate necessary investigations. On November 1, 2006, the victim’s family and Advocacy Forum lawyers visited the DPO to follow up. The police claimed that they were unable to register the case since the complaint was against army personnel senior to them, and they were still working in the same district. On November 8, 2006, Hari’s father lodged a petition before the Supreme Court to order the DPO in Kavre to register the FIR. The Supreme Court ordered the DPO to register the FIR. The DPO then informed the Supreme Court that the FIR had already been registered on November 7, 2006. On December 8, 2006, the DPO wrote a letter to Police Headquarters and the Bagmati Zonal Police Office, seeking their assistance to identify and bring the alleged perpetrators to the DPO. At this writing, however, the DPO had not received any reply from those authorities.

Update (September 2009): On February 2 and April 28, 2009, the Kavre DPO informed Advocacy Forum lawyers that the original case file had been forwarded to the Supreme Court and Advocacy Forum lawyers are unaware of any further progress in the investigation. Months later, however, the Supreme Court still has not heard the case or issued a writ of mandamus. The next hearing before the Supreme Court is scheduled for November 9, 2009.