Kathmandu, April 28: The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal (OHCHR-Nepal) has condemned the killings of a girl and six more civilians in south-eastern Nepal by Royal Nepalese Army troops, and demanded independent judicial probe into the incident.
Army soldiers reportedly gang-raped a 22-year-old local women and subsequently shot her dead on the night of April 25, and then killed six more civilians when they protested against their conduct the next day.
Army said it had constituted a probe team to investigate the incident. They said the commander of the army post in Belbari, Morang--the place where the incident occurred--had been booked by them.
Citing preliminary investigation, the Army admitted that the girl was "innocent" but it tries to justify the the shoot-out, saying it was inevitable as "there was no option other than to open fire to check the angry protestors." Army had also said that the fires were opened by demonstrators themselves and that some of the demonstrators totted arms and posed threats to the lives of security personnel.
However, an OHCHR team which also inspected the incident site on Wednesday said it found no evidence to support the Army claim.
OHCHR_Nepal representative Ian Martin described the shooting of unarmed civilians as inexcusable and demanded immediate suspension of those under investigation.
A post-mortem report on the victim girl confirmed death from gunshot wound in the right chest, but whether she was raped prior to that remained unanswered. A more detailed report is expected today.
Human rights and civil bodies as well as political parties have vehemently condemned the killings.
The Belbari shho-out occurrered when the nation was in a transition from King Gyanendra's dictatorial regime to a parliamentary government that was yet to be formally appointed.
Royal Army soldier had shot eleven civilians at Nagarkot in the outskirts of Kathmandu in a similar case involving woman, four months ago.