15 February 2011. In what may be termed as one of the rare decisions by a Nepalese Court, the District court of Baglung has issued an order on 13 Feb, 2011, in the name of the District Police Office (DPO), Baglung, to provide compensation amounting to NRs 10,000/- to a torture survivor. In general, Nepalese courts refer directly to the state to provide compensation to torture victims.
It was quite of an atypical court-hopping drama before the District Court finally made the decision in favor of the victim, Rajendra Bahadur K.C., a resident of Ward No. 2, Darling VDC, Balghans. The victim was arrested by a group of policemen including the Deputy Superintendent of Police Ashok Thapa of the temporary police post of Bhimgithe on 16 August 2006 on a murder charge, and was severely tortured while in custody. With the legal aid of AF, the victim filed a TCA case in the court on 27 October 2006.
Victim K.C. had brought the case before the Appellate Court of Baglung after it was quashed by the district court for his to submit TCA application within the statutory limits of 35 days. The Appellate Court overruled the decision of the District Court and issued an order on 15 Sep 2008 to the latter to register the case again. The police, then, knocked the Supreme Court’s (SC) door challenging that decision of the Appellate Court.
The Apex Court, however, validated the Appellate Court’s decision of 10 Dec, 2009, and directed the District Court of Baglung to immediately initiate proceedings. Following the SC decree, the District court issued an order to DPO on Feb 13, 2011, to award compensation to the victim.
