Investigation reports make Gaur carnage further complicated
As investigations continue over the Garu carnage to dig out the facts behind the ghastly killing of 27 people, mostly the members of the Maoist party, reports reflect contradictory findings, thus making the whole investigation process further complicated.
Investigation from the government side is yet to start as the Maoists have opposed the formation of an investigation commission by the former seven-party government. UN human rights bodies and several other rights organisations reached the incident site to unravel the truth of the bloodbath. What they have come out with is not the same.
No doubt, all of them have pointed out the barbaric killing of unarmed people and irresponsible act of the MJF, the inability of the state authority and Maoist stubbornness in this incident. However, the issue of rape and torture of women during the incident remains disputable.
While the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF) and the Maoists keep on blaming each for the terrible incident, the investigation carried out by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Nepal tells a bit different story.
On Friday, a report made public by the OHCHR said the women killed in the incident were not raped and that there was no evidence that their breasts chopped off. “The incident at Rice Mill field was sparked when about a dozen young men destroyed the CPN-M stage. After initially fleeing, MJF supporters turned on the largely outnumbered CPN-M cadres. In the evening attacks, 27 individuals-including four women and a 17-year-old girl were killed, all but one with blows from bhaatas and lathis,” the report said.
Media had quoted chairman of the Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC) Subodh Pyakurel, who was a member of the preliminary investigation team of human rights activists, that three of the deceased women were raped before being killed. However, he denied they had reported so. “We never reported that women were raped. But father of one of the deceased girl had told us that the breast of his daughter was cut,” he told Nepalnews on Sunday.
But he also said he would not rely fully on the report publicised by the OHCHR. “OHCHR always holds the state to be responsible in any of such incidents. It is the way they do because they work on the principle set out in the international humanitarian laws. But reality could be different in criminal cases,” he added.
Women rights activists had blamed that attackers used rape as weapon to murder the females during the incident.
Following the three-day field investigations by the women rights activists in Gaur, they had concluded that the carnage was instigated by criminals who used rape as a weapon to kill the females.
Nine activists associated with Shanti Malika including Sharada Pokharel, Shobha Gautam, Kalyani Shah and some female journalists had conducted field investigations.
They informed that three women, who were trying to cross the Bagmati River in Pataiya of Hajmaniya village, were attacked by criminals who raped and murdered them. “They were chased, raped and killed in the most barbaric manner. Their blood was spilled in the local village temple also,” Sharada Pokharel was quoted as saying.
Pokhrel still claims that the women were raped. “The incident showed that women were raped. Their innerwear were tore and sensitive organs were left open which proves they had been subjected to worse treatment just because they were women. The dignity of women was violated,” Pokharel told Nepalnews.
She also said the report by the OHCHR has not reflected the reality because the investigators have not been able to dig out the facts. Pokhrel claimed the investigation OHCHR had carried out was very late while the report they prepared was the reflection of what they saw in the field. The team had reached the field before the dead bodies were sent for post mortem.
“Our investigation was carried out under women perspectives while the OHCHR has investigated under human rights perspectives guided by the international laws,” she added.
Another team of rights activists including Padma Ratna Tuladhar had also concluded that the attackers had raped and cut off the breasts of the deceased women before killing them. Several other reports by national human rights organisations had also supported this claim.
As the state delays independent investigation into the incident, the issue has become further complicated and has not even been discussed at the interim cabinet. This leaves room for questions over the seriousness of the government towards bringing out the truth and take action against the perpetrators of the bloodbath. Even though the Maoists had said they would probe into it, their lack of concern for formation of an investigation commission even after their induction into the government has posed question on their sincerity towards safeguarding human rights.
The state must therefore launch probe into the incident immediately before the reports and facts that will help in the probe get distorted or lost.
Published in Nepalnews.com