By Pei Hu
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
Kathmandu, Nepal – Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Nepali police of torturing children in police custody for petty crimes. HRW had received over 200 credible claims of young boys and girls being tortured in Nepalese prisons. Some of the boys and girls were as young as 13 years old and many of the children were convicted of petty crimes or were working on the streets. Methods of torture included kicking, blows to the body, inserting sharp object under children’s toe nails and beatings to the feet, arms, and thighs with bamboo sticks and plastic pipes.
Torture is prohibited by the Nepalese Constitution and the torture of children is a criminal and civil crime. However, the maximum punishment for the torture of children under Article 7 of the Nepalese civil code is a fine and one year in jail. Asia researcher for HWR Children’s Rights Division, Bede Sheppard, said that police are supposed to protect children and “by torturing children in custody they are committing crimes against those they are supposed to be protecting.” Sheppard also added “it is surprising that not a single police officer has been prosecuted” despite the widespread allegations of torture of children in police custody.
HRW also expressed grave concern on the condition of surrounding of children in police custody because children are separated from their parents and adults in Nepalese prisons and could face assault from other prisoners. One 15 year old boy accounted being tortured by each of the three different police stations he was transferred to. The boy faced beatings, kicks, and was threatened with a gun to his temple to force him to confess to robbery. Sheppard said sometimes the purpose of torturing children was to force confessions or can be “purely for the entertainment of officials.”
November 20th marks Nepalese National Children’s Day and HRW urges the Nepalese government to stop the abuse of children under policy custody. A Nepalese police spokesman said that several police officers have been punished in the past for torturing children; however, the spokesman denied any ongoing torture claims. The foreign minister, Nabin Kumar Ghimire, joined the police spokesman and said the allegations of torture were “wrong and baseless.”
For more information, please see:
ABC News – Nepali Police Accused of Torturing Children – 20 November 2008
BBC – Nepali Police ‘Torture Children’ – 19 November 2008
HRW – Nepal: End Torture of Children in Police Custody – 18 November 2008
