Representatives of national and international human rights defenders have urged the Nepal government and its authorities to take genuine initiatives to provide justice to teenage girl Maina Sunuwar of Kavre, who was tortured to death, allegedly by Nepal Army personnel, six years ago.

Speaking at the launching of a book “Maina Sunuwar: Separating Fact from Fiction” in Lalitpur on Wednesday, human rights activists urged the uthorities to refrain from obstructing legal proceedings over the torture and murder of Maina. The book is published by Advocacy Forum, a rights group, coinciding with the sixth anniversary of torture and killing of the 15-yr old.

Executive director of Advocacy Forum, Mandira Sharma, said, “Nepal’s politicians keep on talking about bringing the peace process to a logical conclusion. What is ‘logical conclusion’ about a peace process that allows those accused of killing a young girl to roam around freely?” She also blamed the government and its agencies for doing nothing to establish rule of law, end impunity and implement the court’s orders.

Representative of London based rights body, Amnesty International, Robert Godden said that the failure to arrest and prosecute those charged with Maina’s Murder reveals the weaknesses in Nepal's justice system. He also urged the government to arrest the murder-accused and bring them before the court of law.

Maina was tortured to death in Nepal Army’s Peace Operation Training centre, Panchkhal in Kavre, on February 17, 2004. Responding to a case iled by Maina’s mother Devi, the Supreme Court had in September 2007 ordered that the case be investigated and the accused be brought before he Kavre district court.

The Kavre district court has issued an arrest warrant against the murder-accused NA officers Babi Kharti, Sunil Prasad Ashikari, Amrit Pun nd Niranjan Basnet.

However, three of the accused are not currently serving in NA while Basnet was repatriated from the UN mission in Chad on 12 December, 2009 on grounds of the allegation of human rights abuses. Basnet is in the NA’s custody currently and a court of inquiry has been set up to probe the charges.

On Wednesday, different rights organisations including Amnesty International, International Commission of Jurists’, Advocacy Forum, ccountability Watch Committee and INSEC sent a letter to Attorney General Bharat Bahadur Karki, demanding end to the obstructions in bringing the NA officers before the court. nepalnews.com