Kathmandu, August 13

The government has drafted a bill seeking an amendment to the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act-2000 with stringent measures against worst forms of child labour in the country.

The proposed provisions in the bill posted on the website of the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration stipulated that labour office or province or local level may, with or without a complaint, depute its staffer for inspection of places where children are engaged in hazardous works.

In the proposed bill punitive measure against a person engaging a child below 18 years of age in work included fine up to Rs 50,000 from existing Rs 10,000 or imprisonment of up to three months, or both.

Anyone who engages a child in hazardous business or work shall be liable to a punishment of imprisonment of one year in maximum or a fine of up Rs 200,000 or the both.

&If a person engages two or more children in a labour at a time, he/she shall be liable to additional punishment of up to two years in jail or a fine up to Rs 200,000 or both,& the bill stated.

Residence, motel, hotel, casino, restaurant, bar, pub, resort, skiing, rafting, cable car, mountaineering, hot air ballooning, gulf course, polo, horse riding, workshop, laboratory, slaughterhouse, public transport, brick kiln, construction and manufacture of various products, were categorised as hazardous business or work in the bill.

Any person or group may file a complaint at the concerned labour office or local level in regard to offences under the bill.

It also proposed that a child engaged in labour or hazardous business may file a complaint against the concerned employer within one year of attainment of the age of 18. The labour office or local level may warn father, mother, any other family members and guardians of the concerned child worker asking them not to engage the child in labour or hazardous business.

The draft bill has been provided to all local levels for their suggestions and opinions as per the request of the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, said the MoFAGA.

Eliminating trafficking, sexual exploitation, worst forms of child labour and ending all forms of violence against women and children, and protecting the rights of migrant workers are preconditions for meeting the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals.

According to Central Child Welfare Board, children in Nepal were found employed mostly in informal sectors such as restaurant, transportation, construction work, agriculture, small and cottage industries, carpet factory, brick kiln, jari factory.

They were also employed as porters and as domestic workers. Incidents of involving children in hazardous works by lying their age have also been exposed. National Population Census-2011 revealed that as many as 104,714 children (56,267 boys and 48,447 girls) were involved in various types of labour works. According to Nepal Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey-2014, 37.4 per cent of children aged between five and 17 years were child labours.

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KATHMANDU: A man who was taken in police custody on theft charge was rearrested after he escaped the lock-up on Saturday.

The arrested has been identified as Suku Lal Waiba (21) of Sisneri in Thaha Municipality of Makawanpur district, currently risiding in Tokha Municipality of Kathmandu district.

According to police, Waiba had cut the iron bar of lockup at Metropolitan Police Circle, Singha Durbar with a hacksaw blade and escaped on August 10.

A team of security personnel deployed from Metropolitan Police Range, Kathmandu arrested the absconding prisoner from the southern entrance of Bouddhanath Stupa.

Meanwhile, investigation into the case is underway, police informed.

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Kathmandu, August 12

The Special Court today told Nepal Police to suspend four police officers accused of corruption till the final adjudication of their cases.

The Special Court passed this order when four members of Nepal Police — Inspector Lok Bahadur GC, Sub-inspector Damodar Bhattarai, Assistant Sub-inspector Deb Bahadur Thapa and Constable Bal Bahadur Oli filed separate petitions seeking to appoint their agent to represent them in the court on the designated dates as they had joined duty.

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority had filed corruption cases against seven persons, including these four on July 12.

Special Spokesperson for the Special Court Pushpa Raj Panday said that the NP allowed their officers accused of corruption to continue in their jobs while other government offices suspended employees accused of corruption till the final adjudication.

A bench of judges comprising Krishna Giri, Balendra Rupakheti and Ravi Sharma Aryal passed the order saying that as per Section 17 of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority Act and Section 33 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, public post holders accused of corruption should be suspended till their cases are disposed off.

The four police officers were accused of creating fake evidence to secure acquittal of a person who was involved in a road accident that resulted in the death of a motorcyclist.

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority had charged that a vehicle driven by Bodhraj Pandey had hit a motorbike resulting in the death of its rider Nandakali Sharma. Sharma died while undergoing treatment at a hospital.

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority had accused GC, inspector of Gaindakot Area Police Office, of ordering his junior to indict Kishuna Mahato, a servant of Bodhraj Pandey in the accident, to secure Pandeyacquittal.

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Kathmandu, August 12

Regional Legal Adviser of the International Committee of the Red Cross Kirsty Welch said despite shortcomings, the four Geneva Conventions continued to be relevant as they were instrumental in reducing the sufferings caused by internal and international conflicts and wars.

Speaking at an interaction organised by the International Committee of the Red Cross to mark its 70th anniversary, Welch said it was up to the international community to seek revision of those conventions to cover issues that were not envisioned when those conventions were drafted decades ago.

International humanitarian law expert Prof Gita Sangroula also said that the 1949 Geneva Conventions were still relevant in the changed contexts of conflicts.

Member Secretary of National IHL Committee Phanindra Gautam said that Geneva Conventions did not clearly offer an answer as to whether cyber attack was a domestic attack or international conflict.

&Cyberattack can stop train; divert the path of a plane and open the floodgates of a dam,& he said.

Gautam said it was not clear in the intentional instruments at what point of time a conflict could be termed an armed conflict. Conflict Victims National Alliance Adviser Ram Kumar Bhandari said IHL Nepalrole hadn&t been effective in protecting the interests of conflict victims in Nepal.

The programme was organised for government officials representing the ministries, armed and security forces and judicial bodies, officials of Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Commission of Investigation of Enforced Disappeared Persons and other relevant institutions.

The latest publication of the ICRC in English and Nepali was also launched on the occasion by Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal.

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Kin of a prisoner had passed a hacksaw blade while giving him food during visiting hours

Kathmandu, August 12

Four prisoners fled from the underground jail at Metropolitan Police Circle, Singha Durbar, in the wee hours of August 10.

Police have arrested three of the escapees with one still at large.

The police outpost is probably the most secure police station given the number of security personnel deployed and sensitivity of the area. Since the countrymajor administrative hub Singha Durbar lies just outside its perimeter, it holds the responsibility of maintaining peace and security in the area.

The prisoners were able to escape through the cellventilation of around one square feet area, which was secured by iron rods. Just outside and below the ventilation lies barbed wires and the police station is surrounded by approximately 10 to 12 feet high boundary wall. However, from one side of the wall, one can easily get into a garden of a private house, which is around 20 metres away from the Anamnagar main road.

According to a high-level police source, Karan Moktan, a family member of one of the prisoners, had passed a hacksaw blade while giving him food during visiting hours at the police station.

All the four escapees were inside the cell for a minimum of 22 days. As many as 28 other prisoners were kept in two adjacent cells inside the building throughout the time.

&The prisoners must have used the hacksaw blade to cut down the iron railing in the cell for several days,& the police source said.

The police circle has around 150 police personnel working under the leadership of one deputy superintendent of police.

A police official saw that one of the prisoners was trying to escape by climbing the boundary wall and immediately alerted other police officials.

DSP Kausal Budhathoki of the circle said he was sleeping when his subordinates informed him of the prisoners& escape. &We started chasing them and were able to nab two of the escapees from a narrow alley at Ghattekulo, which is around 500 metres from the police station,& he said. However, two other prisoners could not be caught and were able to escape.

Among the arrested escapees were Anil Thapa, 24, and Subba Lama, 25, who were facing charges of dealing and trading in illegal drugs and motorcycle theft.

Metropolitan Police Range, Teku, which overtook the search mission of nabbing the escapees, arrested yet another escapee Sukalal Waiba from Dakshindhoka this morning.

Police refused to make public the name of the prisoner who is still at large, citing security reasons.

The escape of four prisoners from such a sensitive police outpost has raised questions regarding the safety of police stations across the country.

In a similar incident, three prisoners had escaped from the Metropolitan Police Sector in Bhainsepati of Lalitpur district on July 8. Police arrested all of them later.

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