Nepal government being urged by HRW to release full report on Terai

The Human Rights Watch has asked the Nepal government to release the full report of the Lal Commission, which investigated the horrific violence of the Terai Movement in 2015. According to Meenakshi Ganguly, the South Asia director of HRW said on October 2 that the “selective leaks” in the media have “caused confusion” about all the findings. She further urges that the government should release the report and explain how it will respond to the recommendations. Ganguly also believes that there is “no justification” to keep the findings “under wraps” because the families of the victims placed their faith in the government commitments for an independent investigation. 

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Human Rights Watch's concerns

After the media reported that the report contains crucial information about the justice provided to the victims and also help to sideline such incidents in the future, the HRW raised its concerns to make the report public. The leaked information by the media, the government commission has stated the police had failed to imply to their duty and protect members of the indigenous Tharu community from the mob attacks. The Lal commission was formed under the former Supreme Court judge Girish Chandra Lal for the investigation of violent clashes between the police and demonstrators during the Terai Movement. According to Ganguly, the commission was composed of highly respected senior officials and they struggled to produce independent findings despite the lack of corporation by the state authorities. She further believes that Nepal needs to show that it takes the findings that involve violations of human rights, seriously. 

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Commission's conclusion

The commission had concluded that there was a use of lethal force against the protesters in the eastern Terai region which could not happen without the direction and orders from the local administration. The commission even said that the killings of the bystanders and protesters involved imprudent use of force. The report by the Lal commission was presented to the government on December 2017 also stated the killing of 66 people during the violence including 10 policemen. Prime Minister, Sher Bahadur Deuba's government received the report which has not been released since then. 

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(With ANI inputs)