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According to INSEC, one person died in Bhaktapur’s child correctional home and the incident of children leaving the correctional home was due to the negligence of USEP, the managing organization of the child correctional home and due to the disinterest of the administration.

This was stated in the report published on September 1 by the on-site study team, which was led by INSEC and included officials from numerous organizations.

The study team has concluded that 18-year-old Kamal Basnet died due to negligence of the correctional institution administration. According to the report, “The children said that they asked for medicine from the hostel warden, and the warden gave them medicine called Nico, afterwards, the child was found unconscious at 6 o’clock on August 20, the child was immediately taken to the Civilian Community Hospital at Madhyapur Thimi Municipality-3 Gatthaghar,”

Kamal Basnet, 18, of Manthali Municipality-3, Kathjor, who was detained in the Children’s Correctional Home in a rape case, died there around 6 a.m. on August 20, 2023. Basnet, who was suffering with fever and jaundice, died because he was not taken to the hospital in time for medical treatment. The children in the correctional home raised voices inside the correctional home and the relatives of the deceased on the premises of the correctional home, demanding that the incident should be investigated fairly, the culprits should be punished and the victims should be compensated. At the same time, after the clash with police, 221 children who were inside the correctional facility broke through the back door and escaped.

Basnet was imprisoned in the Children’s Correctional Home according to the order on June 11, 2020 by the Ramachhap District Court Under the prison management department and The educational program (USEP) for children in juvenile detention centers under the supervision of the Department of Prison Management, located in Madhyapur Thimi Municipality-2.

The Child Correctional Home Administration informed that the child had lost his life before being brought to the hospital, Civil Community Hospital in Madhyapur Thimi Municipality-3 Gatthaghar at 6 o’clock on August 20.

Regarding the juvenile correctional home, to bring those involved in the long-term management of the juvenile correctional home to the process of investigation, to improve the internal management within the correctional home, to conduct a fair and objective investigation of the incident of August20 and 21, to ensure that no more children are kept in the correctional home than the capacity, and to reform those who have reached the age of 18.

The report states that, “It is necessary for the government to take charge of the operation of the children’s correctional home and to develop the correctional home. It is also necessary to put an end to the internal power inside the children’s correctional home, similar to emphasize on child-friendly management.”

On August 21, the children of the correctional home protested against the lack of arrangements for health check-ups, lack of care for mental health, lack of provision of food and drinking water, and no initiative for moral development. The children vandalized the correctional home after the administration of the correctional home did pay attention. During the clash, 11 people from the Nepal Police and eight from the Armed Police were injured, including 19 people and 10 children. Among the injured children, one who was hit by a rubber bullet (according to the relatives of the injured) is in critical condition. He is being treated in the ICU of the National Trauma Center. The police said that out of the 221 children who escaped, four have not yet been contacted.

INSEC Online