Disappearance bill to be retroactive

KATHMANDU, Nov 16 - The government on Saturday unveiled the much-awaited draft bill on Enforced Disappearances (Charge and Punishment) Act 2065 B.S. with a provision to retroactively charge those behind disappearances during the decade-long Maoist conflict. However, the bill remains mum on the cases of disappearance that have taken place ...

Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Janardan Sharma, Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Dev Gurung, Attorney General Raghab Lal Baidya and a host of human rights activists and experts were present at the unveiling ceremony which was followed by a discussion programme.

The bill unveiled by the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction (MoPR) has proposed to cover cases of disappearances between Feb. 13, 1996 and Nov. 21, 2006, the date the Maoist and the then Seven Party Alliance government signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

The bill proposes five-year jail term and upto Rs 500,000 fine to the main convicted in a disappearance case. And the accomplice of such convicts will be subjected to half of the jail term and fine amount of the main convict. Those involved in disappearing children and women will have to face additional two-year jail term.

The bill has made a provision to form a five-member high level independent commission to probe incidents of disappearances during the conflict period. A committee comprising Constituent Assembly (CA) Chairman as the head and two incumbent ministers will recommend human rights activists, psychologists, lawyers, conflict experts and sociologists with at least 10 years of professional experience as other five members of the commission.

The revised bill comes after the Supreme Court directs the government to introduce the bill on cases of enforced disappearances in line with the international standards. National Human Rights Commission member Gauri Pradhan said during the discussions that the commission has received a total of 2,200 cases of enforced disappearances.

The proposed high level commission will be entrusted to probe into the incidents of disappearances during the Maoist conflict, ascertain the guilty involved in such acts and recommend reparation to the families of those disappeared both by the state and non-state parties.

The reparation to the victim families includes free of cost education and health services, skill-oriented training, interest-free loan, employment and settlement facilities, among others, to the victim's family.

The proposed commission will interrogate the accused of such incidents, direct concerned people to submit documents pertaining to disappearance cases, ask government offices or courts to provide related documents and conduct field inspection, among others. It can form a separate team comprising concerned experts to help smoothly run the activities of the commission.

Officials at the MoPR said the bill after incorporating necessary suggestions will be sent to the Ministry Law for necessary corrections. The MoPR will then get the bill approved by the cabinet and table it in the interim legislature for endorsement.

The commission will initiate investigations on a disappearance case if it gets complaints, receives information from sources or deems necessary to conduct investigations on such cases. It will then write to the Attorney General's Office to initiate legal action against the guilty in such cases.

Human rights lawyer Gobinda Bandi said the committee to be formed to recommend members of the disappearance commission should include members from the civil society. He said that the bill should clearly define the commission's jurisdiction and the court in which the case the Attorney General's Office is supposed to file for necessary legal action.

Speakers on the occasion expressed concern as the commission does not cover the cases of disappearances that have taken place after November 21, 2006. Various such cases including that of the then Valley in-charge of Madeheshi Janadhikar Forum Jitendra Sah, who was abducted and subsequently disappeared from Kathmandu last year remain unsolved.