INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
KATHMANDU, JULY 24
The National Human Rights Commission has expressed grave concern about the forced eviction of the Chepang people from
their settlements in Kusum Khola of Madi Municipality-9, Chitwan, for allegedly occupying the land of the Chitwan National Park.
The Chepang
community had been living there for the past 24 years.
Authorities of the national park had set two houses on fire, while demolishing eight
other houses with the use of elephants on July 18
The rights body has also drawn its attention to ‘turture to death& of Rajkumar Chepang, 24, by Nepali Army on July 16.
Issuing a press
statement today, the NHRC said its Bagmati Province Office had launched an investigation into the incident
&This is against the provisions articulated in articles 16, 22, 37 and 42 of the constitution, and International Covenant of the Civil and
Political Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and ILO Convention to which Nepal is a party,& read the
statement, adding that it had violated the citizens& right to live a dignified life.
The NHRC has called on the Government of Nepal to
conduct a fact-finding investigation into the incident and bring to book the guilty at the earliest
The government has also been told to make arrangements for proper housing of the displaced persons and families, and provide reasonable
compensation to the family of Rajkumar.
Earlier, Amnesty International had urged the concerned authorities to immediately halt forced
eviction of the Chepang community from their settlements.
The Chepang families, belonging to one of Nepalmost marginalised indigenous
communities, lost not just their homes but also their money, identity documents and other possessions, it said.
A version of this article
appears in e-paper on July 25, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.
The post Concern raised about forced eviction appeared first on The Himalayan
