SURKHET, March 3: Two decades ago, the then-rebel CPN (Maoist) launched an armed conflict that reached its peak. During the war, Maoist rebels took control of villages, while the "royal army" dominated the district headquarters. Both forces trapped ordinary citizens in the crossfire.
After her husband left her for a second marriage, Purnamaya from Dailekh raised her daughter alone. Every day, the then-deputy commander of the Bhawani Box Battalion in Kaandachaur, led a troop to interrogate her about her husband. She repeatedly responded, "I have had no contact with him since he remarried."
On the evening of November 23, 2004, the army took Purnamaya into custody and brought her to the barracks. The deputy commander and three others tortured her severely and gang-raped her.
Soldiers blindfolded her at the barrack gate, took her inside, and raped her from 4 pm to 8 pm. When she resisted, they beat her with boots, fists, and sticks.
"Under the pretext of interrogation, four of them raped me," she recalled that night from 20 years ago. "At first, I resisted, but after becoming weak and exhausted, I couldn't fight back anymore."
After the rape, the army dragged Purnamaya and dumped her in a pile of garbage on the roadside. The gang rape caused severe damage to her uterus. Unable to receive treatment at the regional hospital in Surkhet, she was taken to Lucknow, India. There, doctors performed surgery on her severely damaged uterus which had to be removed.
Reviewing transitional justice
While already suffering from the pain of her husband leaving her for a second marriage, Purnamaya's fight for justice after being gang-raped is far from ordinary. Victims of gang rape often struggle with lasting physical health issues.
"I have to take regular medication," she said. "To get the medication, I have to rely on others."
The state has not provided any assistance for her to purchase medication. "Advocacy Forum Nepal has been helping me buy medicine for some time," she said. "I spend about Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,000 every month just for medication."
Purnamaya approached many organizations seeking action against her perpetrators, compensation, and relief. She appealed to the police administration and the district court, but the police did not advance the investigation based on her complaint. They even refused to register the complaint, citing the statute of limitations. After failing to receive justice in the country, she sought help from the United Nations.
She registered a complaint with the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) on December 19, 2012, demanding that the Nepal government be held accountable for the torture she endured. On March 17, 2017, the United Nations Human Rights Committee delivered a verdict on her case.
In its decision on Purnamaya's petition, the UNHRC stated, "Conduct a full and effective investigation into the facts presented in her petition, prosecute and judicially pursue those involved in her arbitrary detention, torture, and abuse, and publicly punish them. The state must provide her with adequate compensation and treatment costs and ensure such abuses do not happen again. The committee must be informed within 180 days about the progress of this implementation. This should be translated into Nepali and widely distributed."
Purnamaya initiated the legal process in 2011. Initially, the police refused to take her case, citing the 35-day statute of limitations for filing a rape case. She then approached the court, but her case did not progress there either. In 2012, she filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court, but the court did not register her petition. "Despite approaching the police administration and the district court, I could not get justice," she said. "After failing to receive justice in Nepal, with the help of the Advocacy Forum and Redress, in 2012 I filed a complaint with the United Nations Human Rights Committee."
As a member state of the United Nations, the Nepalese government is responsible for implementing the recommendations made by the UNHRC. However, the government has not implemented the Committee's recommendations in Purnamaya's case or in 29 other cases related to the armed conflict.
The UNHRC recommended that the government investigate the cases, prosecute those involved, provide compensation to the victims, offer psychological counseling, rehabilitation, and medical treatment, amend laws related to torture and rape, and translate and distribute the decisions.
"Until now, the government has not implemented any of these recommendations," said Advocate Amisha Adhikari, Program Coordinator of the Advocacy Forum Nepal. "The United Nations Human Rights Committee's decision should have been implemented within 180 days."
She stated that the Nepalese government has not implemented the recommendations made by the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Purnamaya's case or in 29 other conflict-related cases. "Although the government partially implemented one case in Lumbini Province, there has been no progress in all other cases," she said. "This shows that Nepal is not serious about addressing pressing human rights violations."
Advocate Bashant Gautam stated that conflict victims have turned to international bodies after failing to receive justice within the country. "Despite years since the peace agreement, victims have been forced to seek help from international bodies due to the dearth of justice in the country," he said. "The government must create an environment where victims experience justice."
Advocate Bashant Gautam further added that the lack of implementation of the United Nations' recommendations has prevented victims from receiving justice and reparation. "This not only encourages impunity but also shows that the state has failed in its duty to guarantee justice for the victims," he said.
He pointed out that while the central government is conducting investigations through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, local and provincial governments must introduce reparation programs specifically for the victims.
