“Like We Are Not Nepali”

Police Intimidation in Tharu Villages
On September 12 Human Rights Watch visited Manuwa, the village where the three injured
protesters who were taken to the hospital and their two companions live. Human Rights
Watch interviewed the families of four of the men and several of their neighbors. The
families had heard rumors of the arrests on the evening of the incident and received
confirmation the following morning, but it took them 10 days to establish where the men
were being held and arrange a visit. The detainees reportedly said that they were receiving
medical treatment and that they had not been beaten since arriving in Dhangadhi,
although they were beaten before they arrived there. One man reported that his body
ached from the beatings. The meetings apparently lasted about five minutes or less and
were in the presence of police, so the men could not speak freely.
On September 6 the security forces visited the village of Manuwa for the first time. This
group principally consisted of the police, although villagers said soldiers were also present.
At the home of each prisoner the police made family members sign a document that they
were unable to read either because they were illiterate or, if they were literate, because
police did not allow them to read the document. According to a relative of one of the
arrested men, they were told, for example, “If you have not done anything wrong you
should not be afraid to sign any document.” 30
“They didn’t allow me to read it,” said the wife of another one of the men. “I know how to
read but they didn’t give me a chance.”
The police also searched each of these houses, serving a search warrant only as they left.
Human Rights Watch obtained this document, which states that police were searching for
police weapons and a radio set lost during the violence on August 24.
Each of the families insisted that their family member had no political affiliations and had
attended voluntarily on the understanding that it was to be a peaceful protest. The village
bargar (headman) had been involved in encouraging attendance. Like many other bargars
in the region, he fled. Many other men are also reported to have fled the area since the
incident, some to India.
30 Human Rights Watch interview (name withheld), Manuwa, September 12, 2015.
21 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | OCTOBER 2015