2002-04-26 - incident - Banke district २०५९-०१-१३ - घटना - बाँके जिल्ला

Archive ref no: NCA-05183 अभिलेखालय सि. नं.: NCA-05183

Alleged incident overview | घटेको भनिएको घटनाको समीक्षा

Information regarding alleged incident | घटेको भनिएको घटनासम्बन्धी जानकारी

  • 196. Ram Milan Balmiki
  • The arrest spree in Kohalpur VDC began at about 11 a.m. on April 26, 2002 (Baishak 13, 2059), when police arrested eighteen-year-old Yek Bahadur Kami, a laborer who suffered from serious mental illness, at the market in Kohalpur. He was among the five men who disappeared, and the families believe the delusional man may have "informed" on the other arrested persons.186
  • One of those arrested in the night was Ram Milan Balmiki, a twenty-seven-year-old man, who worked in a milk marketing company. He and his mother had been beaten in his house before he was taken away by the soldiers.187 Forty-seven-year-old Dhan Bahadur B.K., owner of a furniture shop, was arrested after police came to his house, called out his name, and said the chief of the police station wanted to talk to him.188
  • Twenty-three-year-old Hikmat Bista, a small shopkeeper who avoided political involvement, was also arrested at his home by police. The family recognized one of the officers as an assistant subinspector from the Kohalpur police station nearby. The police officer promised the family that they would return Hikmat before 11 a.m. the next morning.189
  • On the night of April 26, the soldiers also broke into the house of Goma Devi Shahi, who has been an active member of the left-of-center Majdoor Kisan Party since her student days.190 Goma Shahi's husband was not at home; she was there with her four young daughters. The soldiers asked for her by name, and when she identified herself, one of the soldiers threw her against the door. She was put into a van where she found five other people who had been arrested.
  • The soldiers drove these six detainees to a field in front of the police administration headquarters in Kohalpur, where they were taken inside one by one. According to Goma Shahi, she was severely beaten and heard other detainees being beaten as well. She was put in a cell and, from sounds she heard, realized that the other detainees were in a separate cell for men at the other end of the corridor. At around 4:00 a.m., she heard the sound of a car in the driveway, and then heard the detainees in the other room being taken away. The five men have not been seen or heard from since then.
  • Goma Shahi was transferred the next day to district administration offices for further questioning and released fifteen days later. 191
  • Ram Milan Balmiki 's parents were informally told by the police the morning after his arrest that he had been taken into army custody. His relatives searched for him in different army barracks, but the army everywhere denied having him in detention. The courts have issued three habeas corpus orders to the army to produce Ram Milan Balmiki, but the army has not responded.192

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