Interview with Devi Sunuwar
JANUARY 10,2008
Almost two years after the 2006 Peace Movement that forced the king to step down, Nepal continues to be plagued by a gross deficit in human rights protection. With few exceptions, civilian victims of the 10-year insurgency have yet to see justice served on rapists, extortionists, kidnappers and murderers who perpetrated their crimes under the guise of government forces and/or Maoist insurgents. According to Amnesty International -- although there is ample blame to spread around -- it was the arbitrary arrests, torture, forced disappearance and extra-judicial killings of individuals perpetrated by the military police and the Royal Army that were most egregious.
But the point is this: Impunity still
reigns in Nepal, and it is the women and children who suffer most.
Outrages against women of all descriptions continue without much fear
of repercussion. In case of human rights violations, the National Human
Rights Commission (NHRC) is authorized to request governmental action,
but the interim government continues to deny NHRC access to intervene
in many cases and, in general, NHRC’s recommendations are allowed to
languish in the judicial system. Thus, victims of human rights
violations are twice punished because of the enormous hurdles they face
should they seek legal recourse:
1. Nepal doesn’t offer any protection to victims or witnesses if their perpetrators threaten them with future bodily harm.
2. Consulting legal aid is, geographically, practically impossible to
victims living in remote areas, which makes up a major part of Nepal’s
population.
3. The Torture Compensation Act requires the victims
to file claims within 35 days of the crime-- severely reducing adequate
opportunity for people with limited means to get justice.
4. There is no provision in place for the victim’s rehabilitation needs.
5. Perpetrators who are actually brought to justice are the exception
not the rule, a fact that discourages victims from risking their lives
by pursuing legal action.
The
disappearance, torture and murder of 15-year-old Maina Sunuwar
exemplify the human rights violations and the culture of impunity that
reigns in Nepal. In December 2007, I met and talked to Maina’s mother, Devi Sunuwar,
in her tiny room in Kathmandu. It was 6:00 in the morning: She
consented to the interview on the condition that I would get her to
work on time at the small factory in which she works—a considerable
distance from her rented room.
DUNHAM: You haven’t lived in Kathmandu that long. Why did you leave your village?
DEVI SUNUWAR: I
came to Kathmandu in 2004 -- not because I wanted to -- but because
after the Royal Army abducted my daughter, I was afraid what the army
would do to me if I stayed there. Also, I needed to come to the city in
order to find people who could help me find my daughter.
DUNHAM: 2004 was at the height of the insurgency. Were there Maoists in the area?
DEVI SUNUWAR:
No, not really. Not in my village. My village, Kharelthok, is in Kavre,
which is the district just east of Kathmandu. There was an army
barracks and a police station near to my house, so there was no real
Maoist presence. The Maoists did have influence nearby, but not in
Kharelthok. And there wasn’t anybody from my village who had joined the
Maoists.
DUNHAM: Were you affiliated with any political party?
DEVI SUNUWAR:
Yes, I had joined the UML [United Marxist-Leninist party]. I was a
member of the Village Development Committee. We used to hear about the
fighting and the war in the news, but my village had no firsthand
experience with the conflict.
DUNHAM: Your family were farmers, until you came to Kathmandu?
DEVI SUNUWAR: Yes.
DUNHAM: So how did all the trouble begin?
DEVI SUNUWAR: I
had gone to my parent’s house in Chauripokhari, with my brother-in law,
Karna Bahadur Rasaili. It was the night of February 12, 2004. I was
sleeping with his young daughter—my niece—Reena Rasaili. Around
midnight, around 500 soldiers surrounded the village. They woke us up.
Banged on the door. When we wouldn’t let them in, they broke down the
door and searched our house. They were looking for Maoists. It is true
that there were two members of my family, Deepak and Gita, who were
involved with the Maoists, but my niece, Reena, was not involved in the
party. She was just a student -- grade seven. They only other thing she
did besides household work was helping at the Rural Energy Development
Center: She helped teach the elderly in a literacy program. She was
innocent. The army dragged Reena and my brother-in-law out of the
house. They grabbed Reena by her hands; right out of the bed where we
were sleeping, took her outside and beat both her and my brother-in-law
again and again. Then they raped Reena—did everything to fill their
desires. The rest of us were not allowed to leave the house while they
were doing all this. We were caged. But I could see what was going on
through a window and I could see her screaming with pain.
In
the meantime, two other girls from the village had been raped and
killed: Ashmita Chaulagain and Tashi Lama. Then, one of the soldiers in
front of our house asked an officer coming up the path, “What should I
do with this one, sir?” The officer answered, “Swinkaide.” [Swinkaide
is can mean both “finish her” and “fuck her”.]
Soldiers
approached the house searching for rope. I jumped back in bed,
pretending I was asleep. One of the soldiers came into my room and put
his hand around my neck and breast and said, “You and me should go
outside or maybe go behind the house.” I pushed him away and said, “If
you need something from me you can call me out, I will tell you. My
name is Devi, sir. But sir, you can’t do this to me in bed.” Then he
went out of the room and left the house with a piece of rope.
The rest of army returned to our house from the village. It was already
early morning, about five am. They tied Reena’s hands and dragged her
100-150 meters from the house and tied her up to a tree. Then they
opened fire on her. They shot her in the right eye and in the chest. I
had run up to the second floor and saw her getting shot from the
window. She screamed very loudly and then she was dead.
DUNHAM: What happened after they killed Reena?
DEVI SUNUWAR:
The army left. Her corpse remained tied against the tree for six days
until the human rights people and journalists could examine and
photograph the body. Her trousers had been pulled down below her knees.
Her panties had been ripped off. There were nail marks all over her
breasts where the soldiers had scratched her and one of her nipples had
been bitten off.
DUNHAM: But that just the beginning of your problems, wasn’t it? What happened to your 15-year-old daughter, Maina, on February 17?
DEVI SUNUWAR:
I wasn’t with Maina that day. I was still at my parents’ house, taking
care of my brother-in-law and his family -- they were all still very
much in shock over Reena’s murder.
My daughter and my husband
and my two sons were back at our home in Kharelthok. I didn’t know that
anything was going on in Kharelthok until I saw my husband walking up
to my parents’ house. I took one look at him, knew something had
happened, and fainted. 
When I came to, he told me what had happened.
The army—about ten soldiers-- had come to our house looking for me.
When they were convinced that I really wasn’t there, they grabbed Maina
and took her away with them. The soldiers ordered my husband to find me
and take me to their barracks the next day [the Birendra Peace
Operations Training Center in Panchkhal.]
I returned to Kharelthok
with my husband immediately. My sons were crying when we reach home
around 5:00PM. The villagers offered to go with me to the army
barracks. They were as shocked as I was at the arrest of Maina. We were
a tiny farming village: None of us thought that this kind of violence
could happen to us. And Maina was a good student –in class nine at
Bhagawati Secondary School.
So the next morning six or seven
of us took the bus to the Panchkhal barracks. I asked the authorities
to tell me where my daughter was. Instead of answering me, I was
scolded: “This is not a detention center. This is a United Nations
regional training center. Training centers do not detain people. We
didn’t take your daughter. We’ll inquire of some other barrack has her.”
So after that, we went to the nearby village of Panchkhal and called
media persons in Banepa to report what had happened. The next day the
Banepa paper published a story about Maina. Next I canvassed the
village of Panchkhal to find out if any locals had seen my daughter.
They told me that, on the 17th, they had seen ten policemen bring two
girls in an army vehicle driven by Captain Niranjan. After that, I
returned to the Panchkhal barracks many times, believing that my
daughter was hidden there. The men in charge started to misbehave with
us so we stop going. 
Instead, we went to the Chief District Officer’s office in
Dhulikhel. The CDO was very powerful, head of security for the entire
district. During our first three visits he claimed he knew nothing at
that, in any case, he couldn’t talk about army affairs to civilians.
But we kept returning and, eventually, the CDO said, “Stop searching
for your daughter; she was raped and killed by the army. Go home, work
hard and take care of yourself and your sons. I will give you security
and I will call your area police station to make sure that no one harms
you.” But when I went back to Banepa, a policeman from my village
warned me that the Deputy Superintendent of Police had already sent
women police to arrest me and that they might arrive at any moment.
So my husband and I fled to Kathmandu. That’s how we ended up here.
Our relatives were too afraid to keep us in their homes because the
army was looking for us so we spent many nights sleeping on the floor
of a temple, without food. During the daytime, we went to many human
rights organizations for help and to every Kathmandu army barracks
asking about our daughter. We also went to all the jails. Before I came
to Kathmandu, I didn’t know anything about the city. Now I know every
street like the back of my hand. Finally, we brought our sons here and
rented a small room—smaller than this one, where all of slept on
cardboard.
Then, after several months, the army published an
article stating that my daughter had been killed in firefight with
Maoists in Hokse. But the ICRC [International Committee of the Red
Cross] conducted its own investigation and found out that no fighting
had occurred in Hokse. That was just the first of the lies. When ICRC
initially went to Hokse, the army swore that they have never arrested
Maina. But on a later visit, the army told ICRC that Maina Sunuwar had,
in fact, been arrested, but she had tried to escape, jumping out of a
vehicle, so she was shot dead on the spot. ICRC found out that that was
also a lie.
Finally there was a breakthrough, when I met Louise
Arbour [the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights] and
General Pyarjung [General Pyarjung Thapa, Chief of the Royal Nepalese
Army.]
One week later, the army published an article
admitting that Maina had been killed in a barrack during a fighting
incident in Doromba.
Six months later, the army court-martialed
and convicted Major Bobby Khatri, Lieutenant Amit Pun and Captain
Niranjan, for the murder of Maina Sunuwar.
DUNHAM: What were their punishments?
DEVI SUNUWAR: They were imprisoned for six months.
DUNHAM: Months? Six months for murder?
DEVI SUNUWAR:
They have already been released. Also, Major Bobby Khatri was to pay
50,000 rupees and other two were to pay 25,000 rupees each as
compensation to my family. We didn’t accept the money. When a woman
from an advocacy forum asked me if I had received the money, I said,
“Madam, we did not pursue the case for money. The army has admitted to
their misconduct. But can three persons who killed an innocent girl, be
set free after six months in prison and paying 100,000 rupees? If that
is the case I am ready to kill these army men myself and pay 100,000
rupees and be put in prison for six months.”
For a long time
afterward, I tried, in vain to file a civil suit. After ten months we
were able to file a case in the Supreme Court and, three months later,
the court demanded that the army re-arrest the three convicts and
present them to the court. The case is pending now.
We unearthed
the skeleton of my daughter in Chaitra 8. We went there with human
rights people, press and journalist to unearth the remains. Soldiers
did the actual digging. The grave was about 30 meters from the
barracks, within the army security fence. The body has been examined by
foreign specialists and is now out of country for further examinations.
My husband and I expect further reports within three months.
EXCERPT FROM THE COURT OF ENQUIRY REPORT, as reported by Advocacy Forum of Nepal:
Once
the army at the Birendra Peace Operations Training Center in Panchklhal
had detained Maina, two captains ordered soldiers to repeatedly
submerged Maina’s head in a drum of water for one-minute intervals.
When Maina would not answer their questions, the soldiers applied
electric shocks to her wet feet and hands four to five times. Soon
after, Maina started to vomit and foam at the mouth. She died before
medical assistance could arrive. Those complicit in her torture and
death attempted to cover up the crime by shooting her in the back of
the head and then by burying her in the grounds of the Training Center.
Maina’s story – a tragedy involving indiscriminate violence
against a civilian coupled with the absolute absence of any form of
justice – encapsulates the human rights situation that has plagued
Nepal before and after the People’s Movement [2006]. Since its
inception from 2001 to 2007, Advocacy Forum alone has documented 449
cases of extrajudicial killing, 554 cases of disappearance, and 3,584
cases of torture.
DUNHAM: Devi, is there anything else you would like to share with my readers?
DEVI SUNUWAR:
I have not yet received justice. Hopefully, the guilty parties will be
punished as soon as possible. I have struggled a lot. But I have not
struggled just for one person; I am committed to making people aware of
the larger problem. We women should learn that we should not tolerate
future mistreatment. It has to stop.
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