Nepali students of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi condemn Nitu's deportation

No to Illegal Deportation! No to Abuse of State Authority! Justice for Victim! Punishment to Culprits!

Nepali students of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, on Tuesday strongly condemned the illegal deportation of Nitu Singh, a final year Nepali student at Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune from India to Nepal by the Indian Government authorities on 6 December 2009. They also strongly condemned the silence and likely complicity of the Nepali Government authorities in this case.

The press release issue don Jan. 5, 2009 said:

We demand that: (a) both the Governments immediately make arrangements for Nitu to return to FTII with security and dignity to complete her studies, (b) Indian and the Nepali governments immediately constitute credible and impartial high level commissions in their respective countries to investigate the matter and make public the report, based on which (c) compensate the victim, and (d) punish the culprits.

According to media reports in India and Nepal, there were complete disregard of domestic laws and internationally recognized human rights in the entire process. The Maharastha police in Pune arrested her during the night on 5 December 2009 from FTII without arrest warrant. Nitu and the FTII authorities were later casually informed that Nitu was involved in “anti-national activity” and was being deported to Nepal. We would like to note that there is no extradition treaty between Nepal and India.

India is the largest democracy in the world, where rule of law is important. But the whole episode sets a very dangerous precedent. It shows that any foreigner in India can be arbitrarily accused of such a sensitive and grave offence as “threat to national security” so lightly, and then harassed, arrested and deported without any regard for his/her security at the place of destination, and with blatant disregard of due process of law. This makes foreign students like us feel very humiliated and insecure in a democratic country like India.

According to media reports, on arrival from Mumbai, Nitu’s documents were seized at the international airport in Kathmandu, she was taken direct from the international airport to the domestic airport, put on a flight to her home district Jhapa in a manner of kidnapping. She was kept under house arrest in Jhapa by the Nepal police for more than a week. The family members have reported that they feel they are humiliated, ruined and insecure.

The Nepali government must have been informed from the beginning because it is a case of deportation. After so much media coverage in Nepal and India over the past week, the Nepali ruling and opposition parties must also have been fully informed. It is a national shame that neither the Nepali government nor the ruling and opposition parties have responded to this issue formally till now!  

Media reports point out that the state machinery was abused to settle personal scores against Nitu. It is indeed very disturbing if the Indian government has really allowed its machinery to be abused so gravely against a helpless foreigner for personal vendetta. It erodes the government credibility. It is, therefore, in the interest of not only the victim but also the government itself to investigate the matter, make public the report and take immediate action against the guilty.

We urge all the students, civil society and human rights organizations in Nepal, as well as the diasporic Nepali community around the world to put pressure on the government and the major political parties in Nepal to speak up and fulfil the demands listed above.

 

We would also like to express our gratefulness to the India media, women’s groups, student organizations and intellectuals for their concern, solidarity and activism for justice in this case. We would like to urge them to continue until all the above mentioned demands are fulfilled.

Signed,

Dinesh Kafle MA English,

Sushant Joshi MA Economics

Sudeep Shrestha PhD Economics

Keshav Bashyal PhD International Relation

Tara Joshi PhD International Relation

Bikash K Mishra MSc Environmental Science

Anurag Acharya MA International Relation

Sadananda Kadel PhDEducation

Sohan P Shah MAEconomics

Udhab  Raj Khadka PhD Environmental Science

Pamir Gautam MPhil International Relation

Krishna Raj Panta MPhil Economics

Sachin Ghimire PhDSocial Medicine

Nabin Thapaliya MA Economics

Roshan Raj Baral MPhil Sociology

Reena Budhathoki MA Sociology

Ishwari Bhattarai MA Sociology

Dinesh Prasain PhD Sociology

Pramod JaiswalMPhil International Relation

Neha KoiralaMA Sociology

Bunu Dhungana MPhil Social Medicine

Shree Bhattarai MSc Environmental Science

Avaniendra Chakravarthy MPhil Social Medicine

Panjak Bhatt BA French Centre

Shalini Neupane BA Chinese Centre

Shiba Lal Nepal PhD Economics

Pratikchhya Kshetry PhD Population

Subash Gautam MA International Relation

Lalita Bashyal, MA Sociology