Kathmandu, February 23:

Human Rights Treaty Monitoring Coordination Committee today blamed security forces for the death of twenty-one-year old Devendra Rai following his arrest due to excessive torture.

Rai was reportedly tortured to death following his arrest on January 5 from Hatuwagadi, Ghodetar of Ranibas VDC 8, Bhojpur, on suspicion of being a Maoist.

The HRTMCC, in its report made public today, criticised the government for failing to comply with basic human rights principles and international humanitarian law. It urged the government to form a team to probe the incident and bring the guilty to book and provide compensation to Rai’s family. The five-member HRTMCC team comprising representatives of the Informal Sector Service Centre, Nepal Bar Association amongst others recently conducted the probe in Bhojpur.

The security forces took Rai of Lungin, Rahadung Tole of Devantar VDC 7 into custody from the western check post of the unified security base camp in Hatuwagadi, Ghodetar of Ranibas VDC 8.

Going by the security forces’ version, Rai died while in custody after fainting but the post mortem report states “death due to shock,” the report said.

The security forces claimed that they confiscated a combat dress, two rifles amongst others following his arrest but the concerned sources claimed that Rai was returning home after he bought two brass plates, oil and some photos with the money he made from his porter’s job and after selling five kgs of cardamom on the day of his arrest.

The security forces’ versions of the story are conflicting, the report states. “Captain Dinesh Shrestha and sub-inspector of police Arun Kasuwa of Hatuwagadi Base Camp said Rai’s body was taken to the district headquarters on January 5. However, batallion commander of Bhojpur based Kalidhwaj barrack Navin Basnet said the body was taken to the district headquarters on January 6,” the report points out.

Likewise, Basnet reportedly told the HRTMCC that Rai’s possessions apart form his combat dress and bullets, were handed over to the police but SP Nal Prasad Upadhyay of Bhojpur district police office informed that they had not received any of Rai’s belongings. The security forces informed the team that “Rai’s dead body could not be handed over to his family since they could not be reached” but the relatives of the victim said that their efforts to recover the body were turned down. “The locals opined that the dead body was not handed over to the victim’s family fearing that the the killing would be made public,” the report said.