Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, May 6:

A report released today by the 11-member Human Rights Treaty Monitoring Coordination Committee (HRTMCC) accuses the security forces and the Maoists of killing people in two separate incidents in Rautahat in April.

The report charges the security forces with killing an innocent youth and accuses the Maoists of triggering a landmine blast, which resulted in the death of four passengers of a bus and a security personnel.

Many passengers were injured in the blast.

The team comprising representatives of human rights organisations, journalists and the Nepal Bar Association under the coordination of the Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC) made an on-the-spot investigation of the incidents last month. Security personnel, according to the report, killed a 22-year-old, Trilochan Poudel, on April 7, although he pleaded innocence and asked the former to check his identity card. The team visited the place after Trilochan’s 19-year-old widow, Mina Poudel, called on the authorities to bring the guilty to the book and provide her with compensation.

Trilochan and his uncle Badri Prasad Poudel were staying at their relatives’ place in Khaira Gaon, Bara district, on April 8.

The Maoists had called Badri to Bhaisanhi, Lakshminiya VDC, in Rautahat district, to settle a family feud. The following day, Trilochan and Badri went to the village. When Trilochan was having food at Rajendra Patel’s house in Lakshminiya VDC, security personnel came on a motorcycle and took him away at 9.30 am.

The security personnel reportedly took Badri to a corn field and told him to run away.

“He stayed behind and pleaded innocence but they shot him, poured acid on him and left him in a sugarcane field,” said the report, adding that the personnel also beat up farmers who were planting sugarcane. They also beat Badri up, detained him, and manhandled other villagers, including Buddha Phulwadevi Patel, a 65-year-old.

The report also accuses the Maoists of triggering a landmine blast on April 9, which resulted in the death of four passengers of a bus, including a 10-year-old, Hasnara Khatun, Shahad Miya, Mukesh Kumar, and a security personnel.

The report condemns the government and the Maoists for violating human rights and international conventions, including the Geneva Convention.

Kundan Aryal, general secretary of the INSEC, said, “We are forwarding the report to the concerned authorities with the hope that the victims will be compensated.”