Enforced Disappearances
These five students were among 11 people arrested by the security forces on October 8, 2003. They were taken to the Regional Police Office in Janakpur. The next day, their families complained to the NHRC, which initiated an investigation. Two years later, the NHRC received a letter from the Nepal Army Human Rights Cell stating that the five men had been killed in a “police operation.”
Developments
In July 2006, the families showed police the site where the bodies of the five men were believed to be buried.
The Supreme Court, in February 2009 issued an order for police to proceed with investigations.
After considerable delay, the NHRC with national and international forensic experts took the lead in conducting the exhumations in September 2010. There were concerns that the relatives, their legal representative and human rights organizations were not provided sufficient information about the process.
Remains of 4 victims were exhumed on September 14, 2010. On September 19, 2010, the NHRC suspended the exhumation process for some time, reportedly on the basis that two of the experts had fallen ill.
At the time of this writing, no date had been set to resume the exhumations.
