December 04, 2005
KATHMANDU: Police have freed 13 out of 18 people who were in detention for the last three days on charge of pelting stones at the motorcade of Crown Prince Paras on Friday.
Superintendent of Police at the District Police Office of Kathmandu, Indra Neupane, as well as two other police inspectors have been suspended in connection with the same incident.
Details are still awaited.
Meanwhile, half a dozen rights groups have said police had been detaining 18 people, including minors, in Kathmandu without arrest warrant for the last three days on charge of pelting stones at the motorcade of Crown Prince Paras.
In a statement issued Sunday after visiting Ward Police Office at Teenkune where the detainees were being kept, the rights groups said some of the detainees complained that police had beat them up and even threatened them with their life.
“Eighteen people have been put together in a small room, they haven’t been given food or clothes to beat the cold,” the rights groups said. “Minors have been denied (of their right to) special treatment and students were not allowed to sit for their exams.”
It is but obvious that such activities have not only violated the law of the land but also the international treaties to which Nepal is a party, the rights groups said.
Those detained include Arjun Lama, Ujjwol Maskey, Sachin Bhatta and Subas Lama, students of V. S. Niketan school; Surya Prakash Bhatta, Aristo Secondary School, Kailali; Suman Prasad Bhetwal, a student at Orient College, Teenkune, Shanker Thing Tamang, a child worker at Om Bakery; Binay Aryal, a student of BBS First Year from Kanchanpur, Ramhari Neupane, a sales boy with Himal Media Pvt. Ltd., Raj Kumar Shrestha, a cleaner with the Bus no. 9536 and four workers with the Variety Food Land, Minbhavan.
The detainees said police have forced them to sign on written statements. reading them. “We don’t know what was written on those papers,” they told the rights activists.
Office-bearers affiliated to Centre for Victims of Torture (CVICT), Rural Reconstruction Nepal, Alliance Nepal, INSEC and IHRICON had visited the police post to inquire about the situation of the detainees including minors and to find out if they were subject to torture while in custody.
The country’s constitution prohibits torture under any pretext.
Opposition activists and pro-king supporters had clashed briefly immediately after the conclusion of a huge mass meeting organised by the CPN (UML) at New Baneswore in Kathmandu Friday afternoon. A motorcade carrying Crown Prince Paras and security chiefs passed through the road almost at the same time when the rival youth groups were pelting stones.
Inspector General of Nepal Police, Shyam Bhakta Thapa, had constituted a high-level team to probe into the incident. Critics, however, said the probe team was likely to find ‘scapegoats’ while the blame should go towards lack of communication among security agencies.
Rights activists alleged that police was trying to implicate innocent passers-by and school students on charge of pelting stones at the motorcade of Crown Prince Paras. They also demanded immediate release of all the detainees.