The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has condemned the death of four civilians, including a four-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl, when  police opened fire at a busy marketplace in Bethari, Bhairahawa, on Tuesday.

“They (security forces) have chosen to kill those whom they assume have questioned their authority,” the AHRC said in a statement on Friday. “Another 40 people have been injured due to the violence; their conditions and whereabouts are however lesser known due to the enforced curfews.”

As Prime Minister Sushil Koirala is planning to attend the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) next week, the AHRC has said the UNGA should raise the issue of violent killings of about 50 identified and many hidden deaths of Madhesis and Tharus, including police officers, in protests against the proposed federal delineation in different parts of the country.

“As a representative of the government of Nepal, the Prime Minister should be made to furnish justification, if there is any, for these killings. The State bears responsibility for killing innocent citizens inside their own houses and in the open markets,” the statement said.