CCPR/C/112/D/2031/2011
(2001) allowed State agents, such as enforcement personnel, to arrest individuals on the basis
of mere suspicion of involvement in terrorist activities, and various constitutionally granted
human rights and freedoms were suspended. Against this background, all parties to the
conflict, including the police and the Royal Nepalese Army, committed atrocities, and
enforced disappearances became a widespread phenomenon.1
2.2
On 27 December 2001 at noon, a group of approximately 60 army and police
personnel visited the house of the author’s parents, located next to the road in Simpani,
Lamjung district. The author’s mother was interrogated about the whereabouts of her
children and threatened with death if her husband, who was a retired teacher actively
involved in social activities, did not go to see the Chief District Officer of Lamjung on the
next day.
2.3
On 28 December 2001, the author’s father went to the office of the Chief District
Officer, who accused him of being a Maoist. Mr. Bhandari refuted the accusation and stated
that he was not a member of any committee of the Communist Party of Nepal.
Mr. Bhandari was allowed to leave but had to report back the following Monday. He took
the opportunity to complain about the incident and threats toward his wife that had occurred
the day before. The Chief District Officer and the Deputy Superintendent of Police said that
junior staff had acted without orders on the basis of information they had received, but that
they would be ordered not to do so again.
2.4
On 31 December 2001, Mr. Bhandari took a bus to the office of the Chief District
Officer. Upon his arrival at the bus station at Manangay Chautara, several policemen in
uniform and soldiers in civilian clothes were waiting for him. They arrested him in the
presence of many people, as the bus station is located in the centre of the town Bal Krishna
Baral. According to witnesses, he was beaten and tied up, blindfolded and pushed into a
police van.
2.5
On the same day, 15 members of the army and the police broke into the Bhandaris’
house, threatened the author’s mother, destroyed many household items, threw food away
and stole Nr. 15,000 rupees. They regularly repeated those actions over the next two weeks.
Later on the night of 31 December 2001, Mr. C.B.B., an acquaintance from Lamjung
district and a former member of the armed forces, told the author’s mother that her husband
had been arrested and that he would not be coming home that day.
2.6
On 1 January 2002, the author’s mother, her brother and neighbours inquired about
Mr. Bhandari’s whereabouts with the Chief District Officer of the Lamjung District, who
denied the arrest. On the same day, she went to the police in Besishahar, who informed her
that her husband had been arrested for investigation, but would be released in two or three
days.
2.7
After learning about his father’s arrest, the author came back from Kathmandu to
look for him. Over the following days, he and his mother searched for his father and met
the Chief District Officer of Lamjung, Mr. S.P.N. That officer first denied any knowledge
of the arrest and then told them that Mr. Bhandari was under investigation. Two weeks later
they went back to the office of the Chief District Officer and Mrs Bhandari asked to see her
husband. The Chief reacted by threatening her. The author and his mother also met the
Deputy Superintendent of Police of Lamjung, Mr. P.A, who threatened to arrest them and
told them that the investigation process was ongoing.
1
The author refers to the report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances on
its visit to Nepal (E/CN.4/2005/65/Add.1), para. 25; and the report of the Special Rapporteur on
torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment on his visit to Nepal
(E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.5), para. 17.
3