Action sought against Kapilvastu culprits

Kathmandu, October 4:

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has stressed that stern action should be taken against perpetrators of the Kapilvastu incident for severe human rights violation with detailed investigation into the incident.

The post bearers of the NHRC presented information about human rights violation in the incident at an interaction programme held today to the Human Rights and Social Justice Committee of Parliament. The post bearers said they found signs of evil deeds and straight violation of the fundamental right to live in peace and liberty in the incident while it made field visits in the district. They said attacks, killings, lootings of houses and shops and torching were carried out in three different areas, including Chandraouta within an hour after the murder of Moin Khan.

The NHRC, in its preliminary report presented in the meeting, has demanded action against sub-inspector of the Armed Police Force, Vikas Shrestha, and Kapilvastu Chief District Officer, Narendra Dahal, for ignoring repeated requests of local people to control belligerent crowd. The NHRC also demanded appropriate compensation to the victims. Loss of lives and properties was caused because of absence of timely security measures, they said.

About 14 local people were killed and properties worth about Rs 200 million was damaged in the incident. Chairman of the NHRC, Kedar Nath Upadhyaya, said the Commission is committed for protecting and promoting rights in any situation. Members of the NHRC, Ram Nagina Singh and Gouri Pradhan, also informed the meet about the incident. Ananda Prasad Dhungana of Nepali Congress, Mahendra Bahadur Pandey of CPN-UML and Tilak Pariyar of CPN-Maoist urged the NHRC to carry out its monitoring activities in a free and fair manner.