KATHMANDU, Feb 18: Chairperson of Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) Yubaraj Subedi on Tuesday said that the commission will launch probe into allegations of human rights violations in various places including Nepal Army's Maharajgunj-based Bhairabnath battalion during the conflict era.

Talking to reporters in Kathmandu, the CIEDP chairperson said that the investigation into 2506 complaints relating to conflict-era cases of enforced disappearances is currently underway.

"The commission will soon launch probe into cases of human rights violations in places including Bhairabnath battalion (Kathmandu), Chisapani barrack (Bardiya) and Khara (Rukum)," Subedi said without divulging further details.

The CIEDP, one of the two transitional justice mechanisms formed to investigate conflict-era cases of enforced disappearances, had received more than 3,000 complaints.

According to a report released by Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in May 2006, at least 49 people were disappeared in the Bhairabnath battalion between September and December 2003.

In its report, the OHCHR had alleged that members of the Bhairabnath battalion killed possibly scores of detainees in custody, and evidence points to this site being used for extrajudicial killings and cremations.

"Between September and December 2003, the Nepal Army's Bhairabnath and Yuddha Bhairab battalions arrested and detained hundreds of individuals in Maharajgunj. Their detentions were never formally acknowledged, and at least 49 people were "disappeared" by the Bhairabnath battalion in 2003," the report added.

 
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