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stay inside. Just fifteen meters from the home, the soldiers shot Thapa, and then dragged
his body into a nearby field. The family found the body the next morning. 32
On November 5, 2003 (Kartik 19, 2060), Baikuntha Bhujel, a twenty-five-year-old
shop owner, was attending the funeral ceremony at Ram Sharan Thapa’s house in
Jivanpur VDC-9. At around 1 a.m., three uniformed RNA soldiers came to the house.
One of them approached Bhujel asking for his name and, after Bhujel responded,
ordered him to go outside. The soldiers then took Bhujel away, locking others present at
the ceremony inside the house.
His family went to the Dhading army barracks, petitioned Army headquarters and
NHRC, but has not received any information.
Baikuntha Bhujel had been arrested before, on October 14, 2002 (Ashoj 28, 2059), and
detained first in the Bahini Baireni barracks and then in the Dhading barracks, from
where he was released several months later. The army requested that he should check in
with the barracks every month, which he did. According to his family, he was arrested
because other people reported that he was a Maoist, but the family denies he was ever
politically involved. 33
On the same night of November 5, 2003 (Kartik 19, 2060), also at 1 a.m., a group of
RNA soldiers arrived at the home of Hari Prasad Acharya, a forty-six-year-old poultry
farmer who lived in Naubise VDC of Dhading district, just off the main Kathmandu-
Pokhara road. The soldiers arrived in a white minibus and a white van, 34 and some were
in uniforms while others were in civilian dress. Two soldiers came inside, asked for
Acharya by name, and took him away in his sleeping clothes.
The family went to several army barracks over the next few days, but was unable to find
Acharya. A relative who worked at the Chaunni army barracks in Kathmandu informed
the family that Acharya was being detained there, but the relative was too low-ranking to
arrange a meeting with him.
32
Human Rights Watch interview with a relative of Ram Sharan Thapa, Dhading, September 19, 2004. After
appealing to the government, the army accepted responsibility for the killing and the family was paid
compensation of 150,000 rupees (about U.S.$2,080).
33
Human Rights Watch interview with a relative of Baikntha Bhujel, Dhading, September 19, 2004.
34
In Nepal, minibuses are normally used for public transport. The slightly smaller vans are normally used for
private transport and by some government agencies.
125