Nepal Children's Organization -- NCO/Bal Mandir child rapists sentenced to 16 years in prison

Nepal Children's Organization -- NCO/Bal Mandir child rapists sentenced to 16 years in prison

From -- Action For Child Rights International (ACR-Int):

BREAKING NEWS: WE WON THE CASE AGAINST THE EX-EMPLOYEE AND EX-STUDENT OF BALMANDIR!!!

Case sexual of 3 minors

The judge, Honorable Pashupati Acharya, gave the final verdict on the case of three minors from Balmandir who were sexually abused by an ex employee and ex student. Both have been found guilty and have received 16 years imprisonment and in total each will pay Rs. 100,000 each to the three victims in compensation. We are extremely happy that the girls have been done justice by the court and we would like to thank FWLD, CWISH, CWIN and LACC for their support in this case. The girls can finally feel safe and hope that this will bring some relief for the pain and nightmares they went through. We will follow up the victims the best we can and make sure they receive appropriate guidance. We want to thank especially every person and organisation who showed their support towards the victims! We can't express how happy we are with this result!

http://www.acr-int.org/index.php/en/


For more on Rabin Shrestha & Rabin Chalise, see Pound Pup Legacy:

Nepal Children's Organization (NCO/Bal Mandir) -- child trafficking, corruption and sexual abuse

http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/73445

Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

Nepal Children's Organization (NCO/Bal Mandir) -- CIAA files forgery case against former section officer

Fake credential case

The Himalayan Times

KATHMANDU: The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority on Friday filed a fake credential case against Rabin Shrestha at the Special Court. The anti-graft body said that Shrestha, then section officer of Nepal Children’s Organisation, submitted a fake academic certificate of ‘Intermediate Level (ISc) acquired from Bihar Intermediate Education Board, Patna, India in 1995. The CIAA has demanded action against him as per Section 16(1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2002.

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=IN+BRIEF&NewsID=432049#sthash.kjb7tjfn.dpuf


CIAA files forgery case against former section officer  

Republica

KATHMANDU, Oct 31 : The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has filed a forgery case at the Special Court against, former Section Chief Rabin Shrestha at Nepal Bal Sangathan on Friday.

Issuing a presss tatement the anti-graft body has charge sheeted Shrestha for submitting fake and forged certificate of Intermediate Level (I. Sc), acquired from Bihar Intermediate Education Board, Patna, India in the year 1995 AD for the purpose of promotion.

The Commission has sought maximum punishment under sec 12 and 29 of the former Corruption Control Act, 1961 and sec 16(1) of prevailing Prevention of Corruption Act 2002.

Published on 2014-10-31 19:07:56

http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=85726


For more on Rabin Shrestha, see Pound Pup Legacy:

Nepal Children's Organization (NCO/Bal Mandir) -- child trafficking, corruption and sexual abuse

http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/73445


Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

Republica -- Bal Mandir minors 'sexually exploited repeatedly'

Bal Mandir minors 'sexually exploited repeatedly' 
 
Republica

Kamal Pariyar

Involvement of accused yet to be verified

KATHMANDU, July 9: On the basis of medical examinations, the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police on Wednesday submitted its investigation report to Kathmandu District Attorney with testimonies that three minor girls, students at Bal Mandir, were sexually exploited repeatedly. 

"After a three-week intensified investigation, we have submitted our report with all the testimonies and handed the two accused over to the charge of attorneys for further legal action," SSP Uttam Karki, Acting Chief of CIB, said. "The minors were sexually abused to the full over and over again,” a police source said citing the investigation report. 

Police had arrested the two individuals previously associated with Bal Mandir, also known as Nepal Children´s Organization (NCO), one of the country´s oldest orphanages, and they were remanded to police custody for investigations into rape charges made against them by three minor girls, who are now at a different orphanage. 

It has also come to light that the three girls were medically examined on October 10, 2013 at Patan Hospital. The hospital report also stated that the girls had been sexually abused since one year back.

“I knew that a medical examination was carried out by the then NCO Board, which has now collapsed, but I am sure such alleged abuse never took place within the compound of the Bal Mandir,” Subash Pokharel, general secretary of NCO, said.

There were many minor students that leave the Bal Mandir in the morning for studies and return in the afternoon, General Secretary Pokharel said adding that there were chances of their being abused while they are outside but not while inside the compound. 

CIB had arrested a former NCO student and a former NCO employee -identified as Rabin Chalise and Rabin Shrestha - after the three minor girls living at the Naxal Bal Mandir complained of being sexually exploited. CIB, in coordination with the Central Child Welfare Board (CCWB), had shifted the three girls, who are below 15 years of age, from the Bal Mandir after an NGO, Action for Child Rights International (ACRI), drew the attention of police to the matter. 

During the police investigation, the minor girls said they would be lured with sweets and had been facing exploitation for a long time, according to police. Though the sexual exploition has been proved medically, the involvement of the accused is yet to be verified medically, a police source said.

Chalishe, the chairman of a club of former NCO students, and Shrestha, a former employee, had easy access to the Bal Mandir orphanages but they have been denying any involvement in abuse.

If the accused are proved guilty, they should be duly punished and long-term arrangements made for the education and future safety of the victimized girls, said Salina Tamang, country director of ACRI. 

Students of Bal Mandir last week protested against the public exposure of the 'sexual abuse' charges while CIB investigations were still under way. Police personnel involved in the investigations said Bal Mandir staff were indifferent to the investigations and ignored the complaints of the victims.
 
Published on 2014-07-10

http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=78670


For more on the scandal, see Pound Pup Legacy:

Nepal -- Rabin Shrestha (alleged child rapist) & Action for Child Rights International

http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/72721

Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

Child predators: Even compared to recent scandals in children’s homes, allegations of abuse at Bal Mandir are shocking (Nepali Times)

Child predators: Even compared to recent scandals in children’s homes, allegations of abuse at Bal Mandir are shocking

Nepali Times

4-10 July 2014

Sunir Pandey

When Sarah Robinson first came to Nepal with her son and niece in 2009, she took time out from sightseeing to visit Bal Mandir in Naxal. At the squalid state-run orphanage, Sarah’s niece happened to pick up a five-year-old blind girl. Sarah, a special-needs teacher back in the UK, decided to adopt the child.

Two years later, Sarah was back in Kathmandu to begin the lengthy and difficult adoption process. Whenever she visited Bal Mandir, the girl’s caretakers would warn her saying the child had “bad karma”, but Sarah was determined to adopt the girl, whom she now called Hope.

One day Hope’s caretaker told Sarah she had spotted blood in the child’s underwear. Both assumed it was diarrhoea. But after examination, doctors at the TU Teaching Hospital said Hope had been raped. When they questioned her, Hope told them she and “Rabin uncle” loved each other.

Rabin Shrestha was in charge of adoptions when Sarah applied for papers for Hope. “I tried to adopt her, but Shrestha told me I couldn’t do that. He wanted me to sponsor her instead and told me I would get a decision after she turned 16,” Sarah told Nepali Times.

It had already crossed the 35-day statute of limitation on rape when Sarah finally filed a case against Shrestha (she was afraid he could deny her Hope if she accused him) so she only filed an FIR with police on grounds of sexual abuse. Shrestha was issued a warning in 2012, but not arrested.

On 16 June, Rabin Shrestha, now an ex-employee since a year and a half, and Rabin Chalise, an ex-student who ran a youth club at the shelter, were arrested by the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) again after child rights activists presented new evidence of repeated rape and abuse of other girls and boys at the orphanage.

According to the testimony of three autistic girls, the men would introduce themselves to the children as Bollywood film stars Amitabh and Abhisek Bachchan and would lure them into drinking alcohol and watching pornography before abusing them, the latest incident occured three days before their arrest.

They would organise ‘wedding ceremonies’ every Saturday and dress the girls in red saris and have them dance to brass-band wedding music. One of them would spray water on the girls, who would then be forced to take off their wet clothes. This occurred during the afternoons, when Shrestha got a free pass at the orphanage. In the evenings, Shrestha used to take the children to a bar in Thamel where they were groomed to be prostitutes, according to children’s accounts.

These detailed testimonies were presented to the CIB by child rights activists from ACR-Int (Action for Child Rights International). The evidence was cross-checked for veracity, and was so compelling that Shrestha and Chalise were arrested right away, while a third man was questioned but couldn’t be detained because of lack of evidence.

Lawyer Sapana Pradhan Malla, who is fighting Sarah’s case, says this new evidence might help them get the Supreme Court to order the police to register and file a rape case against Shrestha. They have also listed five other pleas: amendment to the 35-day limit, a mandamus order to not dismiss the case, to teach children about sexual abuse, to set up a child-abuse monitoring system at Bal Mandir and for the Central Children’s Welfare Board to come up with a manual for regulation. A hearing scheduled for 3 July at the SC was again postponed to 3 December.

Shrestha and Chalise, both right now in police custody, have denied the allegations against them. We asked Subash Kumar Pokharel, General Secretary of Bal Mandir, how an ex-employee could go in and out of Bal Mandir, but he was evasive.

Instead, he accused ACR-International of using Bal Mandir’s children against the institution that protected them. Some Bal Mandir alumni also protested outside the office of ACR-I in Kuleswor on Wednesday accusing activists of using the case for fund-raising.

“Since the police are investigating this case, I don’t want to say anything and influence their decisions. But we have written to them that we will fully cooperate with the investigation,” Pokharel told us.

The CIB refused to comment because it said investigations were ongoing. It has until 10 July to file a case, after which Shrestha and Chalise will have to be released.

Names of Sarah and Hope have been changed for safety and privacy reasons.



________________________________

Sacred to profane

Established in 1964 to take care of orphans and abandoned children, Bal Mandir was a powerful institution with royal patronage. With Queen Ratna at the helm, it put together buildings and 50 ropanis of property which are now prime real estate.

Administered by the quasi-NGO, Nepal Children’s Organisation (NCO), Bal Mandirs across the country today take care of over 600 children in 11 homes. Since the loss of its royal backing, the NCO has been plagued by political interference and corruption. Its buildings and property have been leased out to private individuals, amidst allegations of huge kickbacks to political appointees in the NCO.

In 2011, the Public Accounts Committee of the legislature parliament ordered the NCO to systematise its lease process. Seeing the conditions at Bal Mandir, the Australian charity Mitrataa Foundation agreed to manage the orphanages for five years in 2009, but pulled out within 12 months because of widespread corruption and mismanagement at the NCO.

‘We had to cancel the project as we were not confident that we would be able to deliver on the objectives without risking Mitrataa’s reputation as an organisation that refuses to pay bribes,’ the charity says in an online post. One former Bal Mandir employee says the shelter has been involved in “selling babies” in the guise of adoptions, with its managers taking a cut.

When allegations of child trafficking made international headlines, the government suspended inter-country adoptions in 2007 before lifting the self-imposed ban in 2009. In February 2010, the Hague Conference on Private International Law, released a report saying Nepal’s adoption system had gross irregularities and fell short of Hague Convention standards. Among other recommendations, the report advised better regulations of children’s homes and elimination of ‘financial gain from inter-country adoption’. Eleven countries including the US and UK then banned adoptions from Nepal.

The NCO’s Subash Kumar Pokharel denies all allegations of corruption and abuse. He says: “There is no other orphanage in Nepal better run than Bal Mandir. If any one finds proof of corruption or abuse, I will resign.”

Read also:

Child predators detained, Sunir Pandey and Trishna Rana

(Un)happy homes, Sunir Pandey

Selling sympathy, Bhrikuti Rai

At the mercy of mercenaries, Trishna Rana

From Nepali Times:

http://nepalitimes.com/article/nation/bal-mandir-rape-allegations,1495

For more on the scandal, see Pound Pup Legacy:

Nepal — Rabin Shrestha (alleged child rapist) & Action for Child Rights International

http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/72721

Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

CIB investigating sexual abuse of Balmandir girls (The Himalayan Times)

CIB investigating sexual abuse of Balmandir girls

Says it is gathering supportive documents

The Himalayan Times

2014-06-28

KATHMANDU: The Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal police has said it is collecting supportive documents in relation to an alleged sexual abuse case in Balmandir, a children’s home based in Kathmandu.

Following a complaint lodged by Action for Child Rights International-Nepal (ACRI-Nepal), an INGO, the apex investigating body of the law enforcement agency on June 17 had detained Rabin Shrestha, a previous employee of Balmandir, and Rabin Chalise, incumbent president of Balmandir Club, an NGO, on charge of sexually abusing three young girls of Balmandir. “We are collecting supportive documents. If they are found guilty, they will certainly face legal action,” said SP Suresh Bikram Shah of CIB said. “Investigation into the case is under way.” Kathmandu District Court has already remanded the duo to custody.

“As per the law, we can put the accused in custody for a maximum of 25 days. If they are found guilty in course of investigation, we will produce them before court within next 20 days,” added SP Shah, stopping short of giving further details on ongoing investigation.

According to ACRI-N, it had reported the case after receiving the ‘testimonies’ of three young girls, who were living in Balmandir, with allegations of repeated rape and abuse. Acting on the report, CIB had earlier arrested three main suspects for interrogation but had later released one.

http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=CIB+investigating+sexual+abuse+of+Balmandir+girls&NewsID=419648


For more on the scandal, see Pound Pup Legacy:

Nepal — Rabin Shrestha (alleged child rapist) & Action for Child Rights International

http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/72721



Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

Child predators detained (Nepali Times)

Child predators detained

Nepali Times

Saturday, June 28th, 2014

Two men working in an orphanage in Kathmandu have been arrested and are facing trial next week accused of sexually abusing children in their charge.

Rabin Shrestha, former head of the adoptions at Bal Mandir, and Rabin Chalise, an ex-student who ran a Youth Club at the shelter, were arrested by the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) last week after child rights activists presented evidence of repeated rape and abuse of girls and boys at the orphanage.

Shrestha had been arrested before in 2012 after a British woman lodged a complaint against him for allegedly raping a five-year-old blind girl that she was going to adopt.

“I tried to adopt her, but Shrestha told me I couldn’t do that. He wanted me to sponsor her instead and told me I would get a decision after she turned 16,” the mother told Nepali Times this week.

A Bal Mandir caretaker had informed her then that the girl was bleeding, and after examination a doctor confirmed she had been raped. Shrestha and Chalise are now also accused of also raping three other autistic girls at Bal Mandir, using other orphans for prostitution, and also abusing two young boys. Another unknown accomplice is at large.

The three men introduced themselves to the children as Bollywood film stars Amitabh and Abhisek Bachchan and would lure them into drinking alcohol and watching pornography before abusing them, activists say.

They would organise 'wedding ceremonies' every Saturday and dress the girls in red saris and play brass-band wedding music. One of them would spray water on the girls, who would then be forced to take off their wet clothes. This occurred during the afternoons, when Shrestha got a free pass at the orphanage. In the evenings, Shrestha used to take the children to a bar in Thamel where they were groomed to be prostitutes, according to children's accounts.

These detailed testimonies were presented to the CIB by child rights activists from ACR-Int (Action for Child Rights International). The evidence was cross-checked for veracity, and was so compelling that Shrestha and Chalise were arrested right away.

The British woman, who did not want to be named, also says her vision-impaired adopted daughter was tortured while in the shelter and suffered psychological trauma. She used to be tied up and hung from a tree, or lowered into a hole in the ground.

Both Shrestha and Chalise have denied the allegations and the Nepal Children’s Organisation that runs the Bal Mandir orphanage says neither men are involved with the orphanage. This is contrary to the British woman’s testimony that Shrestha had met her about adoption procedures. The CIB refused to comment because it said investigations were still ongoing.

Shrestha and Chalise were remanded in custody for another week on Thursday, and are due to appear in court on 3 July. The scandal follows a series of reports of abuse and trafficking at orphanages and shelters in Kathmandu.

The Bal Mandir is responsible for over 600 children in 11 homes across Nepal and is administered by the Nepal Children’s Organisation which has been mired in charges of corruption and abuse. In 2010, the Australian charity Mitrataa Foundation which had agreed to manage the orphanages pulled out because of corruption and mismanagement.

'Unfortunately, due to severe corruption within NCO, we had to cancel the project as we were not confident that we would be able to deliver on the objectives without risking Mitrataa’s reputation as an organisation that refuses to pay bribes,' the charity says in an online post.

Sunir Pandey and Trishna Rana

http://www.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2014/06/28/child-predators-detained/

For more on the scandal, see Pound Pup Legacy:

Nepal — Rabin Shrestha (alleged child rapist) & Action for Child Rights International

http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/72721

Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/

Nepal adoptions chief raped and groomed orphans for prostitution (The Daily Telegraph)

Nepal adoptions chief raped and groomed orphans for prostitution, claims British teacher

The Daily Telegraph

A British woman who adopted a five year old blind girl from a Nepalese orphanage believes she uncovered an abuse and vice ring after her new daughter said she’d been raped every Saturday

By Dean Nelson, New Delhi and Anil Giri in Kathmandu

27 Jun 2014

The former head of international adoptions at Nepal’s largest orphanage is in custody over allegations that he raped young girls and groomed them as prostitutes in Kathmandu dance bars.

One of the alleged victims was a five-year-old blind girl who who was later adopted by a British teacher. Three others suffer from autism and severe learning difficulties.

According to the girls, they and two young boys at the orphanage were sexually abused and raped every Saturday when the adoptions chief, Rabin Shrestha and his friend throw ‘birthday’ and ‘wedding’ parties at Kathmandu's Bal Mandir children’s home.

The older girls, aged 13 and 14, were dressed in bridal gowns and then made to consummate their "marriages" with Shrestha and an associate. They were also forced to sexually abuse two four year old boys, it is claimed.

The allegations emerged after a British special needs teacher visited the orphanage and became concerned for a five-year-old blind girl who was neglected by staff. She and her niece were told not to hold the girl because her blindness would bring “bad karma”.

Related Articles

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28 Oct 2011

Nepal admits half its orphanages 'selling' children for adoption by couples abroad 

12 Mar 2007

Orphanages in 'children for sale' racket 

10 Mar 2007

The teacher, who married a Nepali man in the early 1990s, later adopted the girl but during the adoption process a female "house mother" told her the girl had been bleeding heavily from her genitals.

The girl initially said she had fallen but later told her that she and Shrestha were lovers who fed each other plums. “’I know Rabin uncle and he is my lover, he feeds me plums and I feed him plums and he touches me and I touch him’, she told me”, the teacher told campaigners.

When her daughter was alone with him, he threw "birthday tea" parties at which he sexually abused and raped her, and when she was with the older girls he would stage "wedding ceremonies" in which they would be raped and forced to abuse two young boys.

The experience had left her daughter psychologically damaged. “She now thinks that every Saturday is her birthday”, she said, and is terrified by the sound of Nepali wedding bands. “If she hears the band in the street she covers her ears and crouches down on the ground and screams”, she told children’s rights activists.

The girls were regularly taken to "dance bars" in Kathmandu’s seedy Thamel red light district where they were given alcoholic drinks and groomed as prostitutes.

Mr Shrestha and another orphanage official were arrested and taken into custody last week after the campaign group Action for Child Rights International (ACR-Int) handed over a dossier of evidence to the police.

Superintendent Pitamber Adhikari of Nepal’s Central Investigation Bureau confirmed the arrests and said the two men are under investigation. They have denied the allegations against them while the Bal Mandir home rejected any connection with them. The suspects are expected to appear in court next week.

The British teacher said she could not comment on the case until after next week’s hearing.

Lieutenant-Colonel (Rtd) Philip Holmes, a leading anti-child abuse trafficking campaigner said the sexual abuse alleged at Bal Mandir was widespread in Nepal.

“This case is by no means unique and we will continue to support ACR-Int as it rescues children and brings paedophiles to justice”, he said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/nepal/10931141/Nepal-adoptions-chief-raped-and-groomed-orphans-for-prostitution-claims-British-teacher.html


For more on the scandal, see PEAR Nepal:

Nepal Children's Organization -- former head of NCO/Bal Mandir adoptions arrested for child rape

http://pearadoptinfo-nepal.blogspot.com/2014/06/nepal-childrens-organization-former.html



Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/