In the last six years, about 12,000 policemen have been prosecuted for being involved in crimes ranging from illegal extortion to heinous crimes.
What you should know
Inspector (Inspector) Kishore Tamang of Area Police Office Hariwan, Sarlahi was secretly informed by an unknown person on 24 Chait 2081, 'Prohibited drugs including Korex are being transported, the police had to be sent.' Soon after the information, the police team including Inspector Tamang arrested 36-year-old Man Bahadur Ghising of Hariwan Municipality-3 Dabritoll.
Bottles of Corex, Onrex, Winecres were recovered from the accused. Ghising, the accused in the case, which was investigated and reached the court, further revealed in his statement, "I am only a porter, out of the 700 bottles the police seized, they only showed 458 bottles and disappeared the remaining 242 bottles."
Inspector Manish Shrestha of District Police Office Saptari participated in a banquet organized on 5th June to celebrate the acquittal of rape accused Akash Adarsh by the court. Two days after he was acquitted, a photo of a police officer attending the defendant's party went viral on social media. After an internal investigation by the police, departmental action was recommended and Shrestha has now been transferred to Chitwan.
The audio of Sai Vaidyanath Das working in Hirapur of Sarlahi demanding money from a smuggler in the Nepal-India border area has been released. He was suspended on July 2 after the audio of him demanding Rs 18,000 from the smuggler came out. It was revealed that Das demanded bribe through his accomplices for helping a person named Rajeev, a 'smuggler' from Sarlahi, to smuggle goods from India.
These are just a few representative cases where policemen who are employed in peace and security management, crime prevention and control are involved in criminal offences. Even more alarming is the fact that smugglers are getting sewage in the collusion of the plainclothes police and gangs deployed in the Nepal-India border region. The police head office has been warning the policemen involved in various crimes and unfair actions, looking at the amount of the crime, reducing the rank, stopping the grade, and taking actions ranging from dismissal.
About 12,000 policemen have been prosecuted in the last six years for being involved in crimes ranging from illegal extortion to heinous crimes. There is data that the police stationed in the border area are involved in the most crimes. From police constables to inspectors, the number of police officers who are assigned to case distribution and rotation is high.
"There are more low-level and plain-clothed policemen in direct contact with the people, they are also the ones who work more in the field," says DIG Vinod Ghimire, the spokesperson of Nepal Police, "Because they work directly among the people, there are many incidents that happen below them, and they are also the ones who take action."
In the year 2076/77, 1,974 policemen were subjected to departmental action. In the year 2077/78, 1 thousand 982 people, in the year 2078/79, 1 thousand 860 people, in the year 2079/80, 2 thousand 24 people, in the year 2080/81, 2 thousand 387 people and in the year 2081/82, 2 thousand 73 police personnel have been prosecuted for being involved in various crimes and illegal activities. According to the police head office, the police stationed in the districts under Madhesh province are the most prosecuted for misconduct and criminal activities.
Two policemen from Rautahat and Sarlahi were suspended on 20 July 2080 for taking bribe from a jeep driver on East-West Highway. After the video of taking illegal money from the driver appeared on social media, the Madhesh Province Police Office, under the direction of the Police Headquarters, suspended Sunil Kumar Yadav of the Rautahat area police office, Garuda, and Vikas Kalwar, a traffic constable of Sarlahi Bagmati Post under the State Highway Traffic Office. Sai Das, who was suspended in the last 18,000 bribery case, was also suspended in the same bribery case on 5th November 2077 and was acquitted on 28th Baisakh 2078. Now again his involvement in the old business is seen.
On 17 June 2078, Asai Navalkishore Thakur of Lahan area police office and two constables Annukumar Rai and Nareshkumar Rai were suspended after an internal investigation on the charge of stealing liquor. On May 9 of the same year, they were suspended for stealing liquor from SK Hotel in Lahan Municipality-23 Gadhia Chowk.
Former Inspector General of Police Dhiraj Pratap Singh, who is also the former Chief of Police of Madhesh Province, says that this could not happen because those who work in the field should be given corresponding responsibilities after looking at the past background. "It has not been possible to give responsibility to the police who have been involved in action only by looking at their background. Sai, who was suspended when I was in Madhesh, has now been suspended again on the same charge, which has given a clear message that the past background should be removed when giving responsibility," says former IGP Singh. Those with a clean image should be held accountable.'
Before the last 18,000 bribe case was solved, on 4th July, another audio of a bribe conversation between a Sarlahi police station chief and a woman smuggler was released. Although there is time to pass the smuggled goods till 4th July, the audio dialogue between a woman from Tribhuvannagar and Asai Manoj Yadav, head of Brahmapuri Chowki, has come out after the area police office Kesharganj seized four sacks of sugar, four sacks of green banana and two sacks of khesari pulses on 1st July. Saroj Rai, DSP of Sarlahi District Police Office, says that the matter is being investigated. DSP Rai says, "We have asked Assistant Inspector Yadav for an explanation regarding the audio and removed him from responsibility."
Earlier, Yadav was suspended and released on the charge of demanding bribe from a flower merchant when he was the chief of Sangrampur police station. Inspector Uttamsingh Bhandari of Area Police Office Gaushala, Mahottari, along with three policemen, were removed from duty on 25 June on charges of misconduct and kept in Madhesh police station Janakpur for investigation.
On 12 Chait 2079, Senior Habaldar Ganesh Kandel, Habaldar Gauri Shankar Yadav, Assistant Habaldar Rohit Kumar Yadav and Habaldar Salon working in the Area Police Office Inerwa (Persa) were suspended by the Madhesh Pradesh Police Office Janakpur after the video of the police asking the smuggler to put money in a bucket to collect money from Birgunj was published.
At the main customs point of Birgunj, the police were taken into action after the scene of making the smuggler to put money in a plastic red bucket became public. Inside the customs entrance on the west side, Inerwa police have been collecting money from those who bring customs evasion goods from the other side by placing red plastic buckets.
According to police statistics, many such incidents are repeated in Madhesh. In Madhesh, 609 people have been caught by the police in the two financial years of 2080/81 and 2081/82. Provincial Police Chief DIG Uma Chaturvedi asserted that any policeman who commits wrongs has been brought under the ambit of action, but in some cases, slander has been imposed on the police. "I have not done anything wrong and I am not afraid," he says. I don't know who (journalist) writes what, who should I convince?'
Since then, the Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office dismissed four traffic policemen on 11 Baisakh 2082 on the charge of brutally beating civilians. On 23rd November, 2081, they were later prosecuted during the investigation, which started after a video of a public man being beaten up by a traffic officer under the Akashe Bridge in Sundhara went viral on social media.
Karnali Police Chief Arjun Chand Thakuri was removed from his post on 7th October 2081 and sent to Janak Bhattarai on the charge of drinking alcohol against conduct in a public place. "If the lower-ranking police had done such an act, they would have been suspended immediately," says a police officer, "It is only the lower-ranking who suffer the action!" Thakuri retired in November 2081.
Lalitpur's Bhainsepati police division chief, the then inspector Binu Shahi, has been prosecuted for colluding with 'honey trap'. She was suspended on October 6, 2081, on the charge of taking the land money by putting the land businessman in a 'honey trap'. She was dragged into the investigation on the basis of a complaint of collecting 30 lakhs from a land dealer in Itahari. She absconded for some time after the trial and was released on bail after appearing in court.
The then Inspector General of Police Prakash Aryal removed the plainclothes policemen after the nomads were repeatedly involved in criminal activities.
Itinerant police are more active in the districts of Madhesh province. They are getting involved in theft and smuggling through border crossings. During the time of the then Inspector General Rameshchand Thakuri, the Ministry of Home Affairs ordered the removal of Ghumwa, saying that the organization was in disrepute because of the police. After that, the police head office pulled more than 200 itinerant policemen at various stages from units other than those that only investigate crimes.
Police spokesperson Ghimire says, 'The concept of deploying plainclothes police is not wrong. Plainclothes police have been doing most of the reporting and arrests of criminal activities, marijuana traffickers, and other incidents. But some of those who were in plain clothes started misrepresenting themselves. Started to collect. It started being misused.'
