NHRC starts probe into Monday's police 'encounter' deaths

KATHMANDU, Aug 9: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has formed a five-member probe committee after the family members of the two alleged kidnappers killed by police on Monday in Bhaktapur filed a petition demanding an independent investigation into the incident.

The probe panel comprising NHRC officers has started its work from Wednesday itself. The probe panel has been asked to submit its preliminary report at the earliest possible.

NHRC Commissioner Sudip Pathak said the decision to form the probe panel was made after the family members of Gopal Tamang and Ajaya Tamang, who have been accused of kidnapping and murdering an 11-year old Nishan Khadka of Kandaghari on Sunday, claimed that the two were killed in extrajudicial fashion.

“As per their demand for an independent investigation into the incident independently, we have formed a five-member probe panel today [Wednesday]. The panel has already begun its work,” said Pathak.

The probe pane is set to meet the family members of the victims including the child's family, visit the incident site, talk to police officials involved, and study the police report. Although NHRC probe panel normally comprises only two officers, the NHRC has entrusted five of its officers for this investigation.

The NHRC has not given any deadline to the probe panel considering the need to conduct in-depth investigation into the case. “All we have asked them is to submit a report as early as possible. There is no deadline,” said NHRC Commissioner Pathak, who is overseeing the case.

Although Metropolitan Police Crime Division (MPCD) claimed that Tamang duo was killed by police in self-defense after the alleged abductors started firing on the police on the way to the Pilot Baba Ashram in Bhaktapur, eyewitnesses said police took the two from their room in Bhaktapur. As the eyewitness accounts suggest otherwise, human rights activists and civil society members demanded independent investigation.

LAWMAKER DEMANDS HOME MINISTER'S RESPONSE

Nepali Congress (NC) lawmaker in National Assembly Radheshyam Adhikari has sought response from the Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa with regard to the kidnapping and the killings.

Addressing the National Assembly meeting Wednesday, lawmaker Adhikari said the home minister needs to respond to media reports that police had orchestrated a 'fake encounter'. He criticized police for failing to save the life of the 11-year-old kidnap victim.

Adhikari said that the accused were arrested from their rented apartment in Bhaktapur as per the details given by the eyewitnesses. “They were killed later. Police have said they were killed in an encounter. Where are we headed to? Are we trying to be a South East Asian country? Who authorized the police to act like this?” he asked.