CCPR/C/112/D/2051/2011
2.5
Since Jit Man Basnet’s detention was well publicized, on 1 March 2004, advocate
Mr. B.L., at his own initiative, filed a writ of habeas corpus to the Supreme Court of Nepal
and requested the authorities to disclose his place of detention and release him. The writ
pointed out that Mr. Basnet’s relatives did not know the place of his detention and the
reasons for his arrest.
2.6
On 8 March 2004, Top Bahadur Basnet submitted a request for investigation into his
cousin’s disappearance to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
2.7
On 11 March 2004, the RNA informed the Supreme Court that Jit Man Basnet was
not held in military detention. On the same day, he was forced to sign a fake confession
stating that he was a Maoist and had been involved in violent activities and killings. The
statement also indicated that he had not been tortured.
2.8
Despite their efforts, the Basnet family received contradicting information
concerning Jit Man Basnet’s whereabouts and could not ascertain whether he was alive and
held in the Bhairavnath barracks. Top Bahadur Basnet met the Commander of the
Bhairavnath barracks, the Senior Superintendent of the Armed Police Force and
representatives of the RNA Human Rights Cell. However, they threatened him and refused
to provide him with information about the whereabouts and fate of his cousin.
2.9
On 4 June 2004, as part of habeas corpus proceedings, the Supreme Court ordered
the NHRC to inquire with the RNA and police as to the alleged arrest and illegal detention
of Jit Man Basnet and submit a report to the Court. In July 2004, Top Bahadur Basnet
informed the NHRC that he had met former detainees held at the Bhairavnath barracks, two
of whom had told him that Jit Man Basnet was in those barracks, that he had chest
number 97 and that these persons refused to corroborate that information before the
authorities as they were afraid of reprisals.
2.10 On the first week of October 2004, Top Bahadur Basnet managed to get into the
Bhairavnath barracks and meet Jit Man Basnet, with the help of a friend, Mr. R.C., who
was an army officer. On 18 October 2004, Jit Man Basnet was released. An army officer
told him that he had been under investigation, but was found innocent. He was also
threatened, asked not to reveal information about the barracks, forced to sign a document
indicating that he had been in detention for 90 days and ordered to report to the Army in
Kathmandu every 15 days.
2.11 As a result of the conditions of detention, Jit Man Basnet had eyesight problems and
was in fragile health. He indicates that he stopped reporting to the Army after the third
time, fearing re-arrest. On 25 November 2004, he filed a petition to the NHRC requesting
compensation for his illegal detention.
2.12 On 24 December 2004, Jit Man Basnet provided the NHRC with a detailed
statement of his detention conditions at the Bhairavnath barracks and a list of names of
detainees, on the condition that his name remained confidential. Nevertheless, in a report
issued by the NHRC in January 2005, his name was disclosed as the source of information
in a case of a disappeared person that had been announced in the media. Subsequently, he
received death threats several times.
2.13 On 19 January 2005, the NHRC concluded that Jit Man Basnet was illegally
detained by the RNA at the Bhairavnath barracks and subjected to torture. It stated that
despite the Police and the Ministry of Home Affairs’ refusal to acknowledge the arrest, Jit
Man Basnet’s statement, and photographs and a medical report of the Institute of Medicine
4