Sexual abuse rampant in police

Himalayan News Service

KATHMANDU: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) today convicted six police personnel of Achham District Police Office (DPO) for gang raping a police woman in the DPO some three weeks ago.


The constitutional rights body recommended the government to take stern action against the accused, including sacking them from their jobs on condition that they would be disqualified in the government service in future. It also asked the government to prosecute them in the court for their crime.


Making public its report, the country’s human rights watchdog also said that such incidents had been rampant in Nepal Police, posing a serious threat to the integrity of the entire organsiation.


The NHRC arrived to such a conclusion after analysing statement of the victim, controversial statements of the accused, statement of the witnesses and the health report of the victim. Sub-inspector Dan Singh Bhandari, head constables Birendra Bam, Karbir Thalal, Biradutta Badu, constables Jagadish Pandey and Narivan Mahatara were involved in the heinous crime. They raped their woman colleague after sedating her on October 11.


Kedar Nath Upadhyaya, Chairman, NHRC, said that such cases were also reported in Pokhara and Nepalgunj recently.


According to the report, such activities created negative image of an organisation established for the security of the people. “Such criminal offence has been posing threat on its image.”


It also called on the government to reform the code of conduct for police personnel and policies to safeguard woman personnel “Tomorrow is the last day to file case against them. We are hopeful that the government and the Office of the Attorney General will prosecute them,” Upadhyaya added. The NHRC report also said that the accused detained the victim’s husband Tekendra Shah after she objected to the crime and complained to police authorities.


“Though the accused blamed the victim for hatching conspiracies to defame them, their claim is not convincing,” the report said. It recommended the government to provide reparation to the victim and to help everyone within the organisation to raise such voice against sexual abuse, if any. Gauri Pradhan, commissioner and spokesperson, NHRC, said they had been investigating into many other similar cases and findings would be made public in time.