CCPR/C/126/D/2560/2015
behalf and on behalf of Amrit Kandel, born on 29 May 1981, also a son of Tikanath Kandel
and a younger brother of Ramhari Kandel. The authors are nationals of Nepal. They claim
that Nepal has violated Amrit Kandel’s rights under articles 2 (3), 6, 7, 9, 10 and 16 of the
Covenant, and Tikanath Kandel’s and Ramhari Kandel’s rights under article 7, read alone
and in conjunction with article 2 (3) of the Covenant. The Optional Protocol entered into
force for the State party on 14 August 1991. The authors are represented by counsel.
The facts as submitted by the authors
2.1
At the time of the facts described in the communication, Amrit Kandel was residing
in an area of Kathmandu called Chabahil and was studying for his Bachelor of Arts at
Saraswati Multiple Campus. He was affiliated to the All Nepal National Independent
Student Union-Revolutionary, the students’ wing of the then Communist Party of Nepal
(Maoist). In 2003, his father, Tikanath Kandel, was a farmer (he is now retired) and his
brother Ramhari Kandel was a shopkeeper selling windowpanes.
2.2
On 10 October 2003, Amrit Kandel was walking in the alleyways of the Gangahiti
neighbourhood of Chabahil with a friend, Dhruba Subedi. At approximately 3 p.m., 11–12
armed men in plain clothes got out of a van belonging to the Royal Nepalese Army,
attacked Amrit Kandel, forced him into the van at gunpoint and took him away. While
Amrit Kandel was being captured, his friend ran away.
2.3
Ramhari Kandel had also been taken away, on 12 September 2003, while he was
visiting his sister at her apartment in Patan, Lalitpur District, near Kathmandu. On that
occasion, a group of 5–7 Royal Nepalese Army personnel entered the apartment, arrested
Ramhari Kandel, forced him into a van and brought him to Maharajgunj prison, where he
was detained incommunicado and subjected to interrogations and beatings, for around three
months.
2.4
On 10 October 2003, Ramhari Kandel heard someone crying in a tent close to his
and recognized his brother’s voice. Five days later, he walked past his brother while going
to the toilet and recognized him, although they were both blindfolded, as Ramhari Kandel
managed to peep out several times. They managed to communicate for a few minutes while
in the toilet and Ramhari Kandel saw that his brother’s body was swollen and covered with
bruises. During the following days and weeks, they did not have occasion to communicate
again.
2.5
According to Ramhari Kandel, the conditions of detention at Maharajgunj amounted
to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Detainees were often forced to sleep in the open
air, on gravel. They were constantly held in handcuffs. Most of the time, they were
blindfolded. Water and food were scarce and provided irregularly, depending on the
guards’ mood. Moreover, detainees were interrogated while under duress, both during the
day and at night time. Ramhari Kandel was frequently threatened with death; he was also
beaten, dragged on the ground and forced to kneel on pebbles for hours. He has indicated
that many of the detainees were repeatedly subjected to electric shocks and submerged in
water.
2.6
Tikanath Kandel was informed of the arrest of Ramhari Kandel on 13 September
2003 by his daughter. He read about Amrit Kandel’s arrest in the newspaper, as a
representative of the All Nepal National Independent Student Union-Revolutionary
mentioned it in an interview with the daily Hamara Mahanagar. On 15 October 2003,
Tikanath Kandel lodged a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission
regarding the arrests of both his sons and their incommunicado detention. He also reported
their cases to the International Committee of the Red Cross. On 17 October 2003, he
attempted to file a complaint with the human rights cell 1 of the Royal Nepalese Army but
officials there denied any involvement by the Army and refused to register the complaint.
On 19 October 2003, a former Army soldier who was from the same district as Tikanath
Kandel and who had recently retired told his wife that he had personally seen Amrit Kandel
1
2
The human rights cell is a human rights monitoring mechanism established in 2002 within the Royal
Nepalese Army, the Armed Police Force and the national police in order to conduct internal
investigations into human rights abuses by security personnel.