OHCHR lashes out at police highhandedness

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal (OHCHR-Nepal) on Friday expressed concern over the killings by Nepal Police of three individuals, and the wounding of at least seven others, at the District Administration Office (DAO) in Kailali on 28 May while trying to disperse a crowd pelting stones at them.

Citing international standards, OHCHR-Nepal reminded that law enforcement officials may only use firearms “in dispersing a violent assembly to protect themselves or others against an imminent threat of death or serious injury and only when less extreme means are insufficient to achieve this objective.”

The UN body said that it is also concerned that the incident occurred following the beating of a journalist on 27 May for an article critical of the Maoist activities in the district.

A group of persons which reportedly included Maoist cadres had thrashed up the aforesaid journalist inside the DA compound and in the presence of the chief district officer (CDO) and Superintendent of Police. However, the authorities didn’t arrest those responsible.

OHCHR said that it continues to call for the arrest of those implicated in the attack on the journalist.

It also urged the authorities to immediately launch an independent investigation into the Police killings on 28 May. nepalnews.com May 30 08

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