Case Updates

Krishna Adhikari

On 6 June 2004, Krishna Prasad Adhikari, a resident of Fujel village of Gorkha District, was murdered in Chitwan District by Maoist cadres. Krishna Prasad was visiting his grandparents after having taken the SLC examinations, and he was abducted from Bakullahar Chowk by men who came on a motorcycle ...

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Maina Sunuwar

Around 6 am on February 17, 2004, a group of RNA soldiers arrested Ms Maina Sunuwar, a 15-year-old schoolgirl of Kharelthok VDC-6, Kavre district. She disappeared since her arrest. Her family members, with support from villagers and school where Maina was a student, visited detention centers ...

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Sanjeev Kumar Karna

Sanjeev Kumar Karna was one among the 11 persons arrested on October 8, 2003. On that fateful day, they had gone to attend a picnic program organized by the students at a place called Kariyachauri VDC-4, and from picnic, they went to Kataiya Chowri Area of Dhanusha district where they ate some food ...

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Arjun Bahadur Lama

Arjun Bahadur Lama, 48 years in age, permanent resident of Chhatrebas VDC -5, Dapcha in Kavre district was abducted by a group of Maoist cadres, three in number, on 29 April 2005 (2062.1.16 BS) from the premises of Sri Krishna Secondary School at Chhatrebas VDC-1 of the district.

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Hari Prasad Bolakhe

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 ...

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Sarala Sapkota

Around 11 p.m. on July 15, 2004, a group of 12 armed soldiers arrested Sarala Sapkota at her grandfather’s house. The family, who witnessed the arrest, stated that soldiers gave Sarala no reason for her arrest. After her arrest, Sarala’s family went to Baireni barracks and the DPO ...

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Birendra Shah

On the evening of 5 October 2007, Mr. Birendra Shah, 34, resident of Inruwasira VDC-8, Bara district, a local journalist of Bara district and correspondent of Nepal FM, Avenues Television and Dristi weekly, was abducted by Maoists from Pipara Bazaar in Kalaiya, the district headquarters of Bara ...

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Bishwanath Parajuli, Tom Nath Poudel and Dhan Bahadur Tamang

Three persons namely Bishwonath Parajuli (also called Nagendra Parajuli), Tom Nath Poudel and Dhan Bahadur Tamang of Hasandaha VDC, Morang were shot dead by the security personnel on 28 September 2004. According to the eyewitnesses, other victims and the villagers, about 16 people were arrested ...

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Chot Nath Ghimire and Shekhar Nath Ghimire

Chot Nath Ghimire, a 58-year-old farmer, resident of Ishaneshor VDC-4, Ratamate Majhpokhari of Lamjung district was allegedly arrested by the Joint Security Forces of Joint Security Camp stationed at Bhorlatar VDC, Lamjung district on February 2, 2002 (2058.10.20). The security camp called Mr. ...

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Bhauna Tharu

Bhauna Tharu (Bhauna Chaudhary in the citizenship card), 21 years old male (at the time of the incident; Date of Birthe: 8 September 1978), son of Purna Bahadur Chaudhary, permanent resident of Sujanpur village, Neulapur VDC-4, Bardiya district, and an employee of Rastriya Gobar Gas, Gulariya, ...

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Close Encounters

Stories from the Frontline of Human Rights Work in Nepal

During Nepal’s armed conflict and its aftermath, human rights violations not only scarred and destroyed the victims but had a devastating effect on the lives of human rights defenders.
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AF Organized Medico-Legal Documentation Training

On 19 September 2019, Advocacy Forum-Nepal (AF) organized a medico-legal training program in Kathmandu. The training was aimed to capacitate doctors to document the cases of torture and sexual violence more effectively and accurately so that the medico-legal documents can be used in the court of law as a strong evidence. The major focus of the program was to train medical professionals on the documentation of psychological torture and the cases where no physical signs of torture are observed/found. Altogether, 27 participants including doctors and lawyers attended the training whereby Professor Dr. Harihar Wasti and Assistant Professor Dr. Sagun Bhallav Pant facilitated the training sessions.

While delivering welcome remarks in the program, Ms. Mandira Sharma, the founder of AF stated that out of 151 cases of torture filed by AF on behalf of the victims under the Torture Compensation Act (TCA) 2053, the court awarded compensation to the victims in only 45 cases, 9 cases were withdrawn, 2 cases were mediated, 95 cases were dismissed and 2 cases remain inactive. Out of 95 dismissed cases, most were dismissed on the ground of lack of sufficient medical evidences. Hence, the successful prosecution of torture cases requires a proper medical report on the physical and psychological status of the alleged torture victims.

In the training Dr. Wasti said that while doing medico-legal documentation of torture cases, the doctors need to give enough time to thoroughly document each and every scars and wounds. He also suggested to refer Istanbul Protocol before documenting torture cases.

Similarly, Dr. Sagun Bhallav Pant stressed the need to provide a comfortable environment and dedicate enough time while documenting torture by the doctors. He also focused on the need to notice various psychological traits of the person in order to verify psychological torture.

This sort of medico-legal training is a part of the series of medico-legal trainings conducted by AF in the past. Through a series of medico-legal trainings, AF is trying to ensure that in future no cases will be dismissed just because there was no proper medico-legal documentation. After the training, the attendees expressed that the module of bringing together lawyers and doctors as well as the content discussed during the training session was very fruitful in their professional life. With the empowerment of doctors to document physical as well as psychological torture/impact of torture, AF believes that no victim will face injustice on the ground of lack of medical evidences. Since its' establishment, AF has been working in the prevention of torture and promoting the fair trial system in Nepal.

The program was supported by DKA Austria.

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