Human Rights

My daughter is Gone

By Malene Lærke

27. April 2006

The 25^th of Mangsir 2059 Kantu Ram Gautam’s daughter got arrested by the police. That day 21 year old Partima Gautam, who was a student activist in the Maoist Movement, was in the Pwaina village in Udharapur VDC together with 11 other Maoists conducting a programme when they were discovered by the village police. They ran for their lives, but Partima Gautam, who was the only girl in the group, was caught by the police. 

“I have been told she ran the best she could. All she was doing was participating in wall painting and distribution of pamphlets about the movement. She did not do combats but was only an activist,” says her father Kantu Ram Gautam who lives in Sitapur VDC, ward no. 7 in Banke district. He has been back to talk to the villagers about what happened the day his daughter was arrested. 

“I have not been to the police to ask for my daughter because if I do that they will shoot me because my daughter was a Maoist. But I did not know she was a Maoist. I thought she was minding her studies at the college in Nepalgunj,” he says and adds that what has happened to his daughter is not unusual. Many people in the community have experienced that a family member has disappeared in the hands of the police and military. 

After Partima Gautam’s arrest the police began searching her father’s house for evidence of connections with the Maoist movement. At no point has the police wanted to give any information about where Partima Gautam was taken after her arrest or what has happened to her. 

“They came five times and they searched through everything in my house and took out all the clothes and pots. They used force upon me and kept asking me whether I am a Maoist like my daughter,” he recalls. 

Four years after Partima Gautam’s arrest her father has given up hope that she is still alive. He has been to many human rights organisations like HURON asking for information about his daughter and asking for help to find her but no one has been able to find Partima Gautam or get any information about her disappearance.

My daughter sacrificed her life for democracy and she is not an animal. There is information about animals but I have no information about my daughter. This government needs blood and I will also give blood if it means the survival of the people. This is the cruel work of the government. No government is like this is the whole world. All I want is a little piece of bone so I can give her a proper burial. That is my religious right,” he states.