The government needs to ensure the right to a fair trial in Mahottari March 25, 2016 We received reports that around three dozens local activists and leaders from Mahottari districts had fled to India after police suddenly started arresting people without issuing any warrant or public notice in charge of the murder of Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) of Armed Police Force Thaman BK. BK was taken out of an ambulance and was allegedly killed by a mob on September 11, 2015. The long list of local UDMF leaders has been included in the charge sheet just on the basis of the verbal statement of police constable Rajkumar Jha who accompanied ASI Thaman BK in the ambulance and was able to escape the mob's attack. When looked at the charge sheet, it is hard to find any substantive pieces of evidence, except Jha's verbal statement, to charge a large number of leaders including some central level leaders. The guilty must be punished and those involved in the murder of BK must be charged and prosecuted as per the criminal laws. However, the case should not be used to fulfill the political motive to create terror in the minds of locals. On February 12, 2016, police arrested three persons - Sanjay Kumar Sah, Pradeep Sah Majhi, and Mohan Thakur. They are now at the detention center of District Police Office (DPO), Mahottari. Following their arrest only, they were informed that they were accused of murdering APF ASI BK. Last week, they were sent to the judicial custody by the Mahottari District Court. Locals had demonstrated to protest the court’s decision. We are also informed that the family members of Ram Vinay Yadav who was allegedly killed by security personnel, sent an FIR against police through the post office 30 days ago. However, his FIR was not registered by the District Police Office. Now the Yadav family is preparing to move to the appellate court to get a mandamus order against the police's refusal to register their FIR and properly investigate the case. In an interview conducted by our local human rights monitors, one of the activists, who just returned home from India, said that they were too terrified to stay in their villages. “Due to fear of arrest and thrash, we had no other choice but to leave our villages,” he said. Many other villagers who had fled to India have come back to their village after March 10, 2016. On March 10, 2016, DPO Mahottari filed cases against 28 local leaders and activists1 from Mahottari district for their alleged involvement in the murder of ASI Thaman BK during the recent Madhes protest. The DPO also charged with vandalism of the ambulance against 25 out of a total of 28 accused. Among the 28 – accused are one Indian national - Anil Thakur - and a resident of Siraha district Bicky Sah. Both of them were staying in Jaleshwor, headquarters of Mahottari district. All the accused except two are from Mahottari district and more than half are from Jaleshwor alone. Most of the accused are frontline leaders of Madhes-based political parties from the United Democratic Madhesi Front, including Joint General Secretary Devendra Yadav of Sadbhawana Party who had gone to Geneva for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) lobby. They had remained at the forefront in recent protests in Terai launched by Madhes-based political parties against Nepal’s constitution in last September. However, a dozen of the accused are still absconding. Earlier in September 2015, immediately after the murder of Thaman BK, hundreds of residents from the district were also forced to flee their villages and take refuge in India. No prosecution against police for killing six persons in Mahottari In Mahottari, a total of six persons: three protesters and three bystanders, were killed during the Madhes movement launched against some provisions of the constitution. Among the six deceased are one child and another woman. Two persons were killed on the same day before ASI BK was killed. However, local administration or any constitutional body has yet to complete investigation and take the cases ahead for prosecution. Though there is a demand put forward by the UDMF to the PM, it is unlikely to form a judicial probe commission into the matter in the near future until enough national and international pressure is not created.

Conclusion and Recommendation: Ensure Rights to a fair trial.

As a human rights organization, we believe in zero tolerance of impunity. It does not matter who the perpetrator is; whether the perpetrator is security personnel or civilians they should be punished. Ethnicity, caste, gender, political affiliation, or power position should not protect anyone from being punished for the criminal offense. The government must ensure that it uses the criminal investigation system in an impartial manner to ensure justice. Indicting people in a murder case without solid evidence for the same means the accused will have to face a lot of economic hardship and legal hassles as they will have to fight a long legal battle to clear their names. Thus, we ask the government to ensure credible and independent investigations into the killing of ASI Thaman BK as well as six civilians allegedly killed by security personnel. Here we draw your attention to lobby with the government to ensure a fair trial, which is the best means of separating the guilty from the innocent and protecting against injustice because convicting someone of a criminal offense means potentially taking away a person’s liberty which is one of the most serious human rights issues. This step can only be justified after the person has been given a fair trial. The same is stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of any criminal charge against him.”