The following is based on a communication sent by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and other UN experts to the Governments of Bhutan and India on 22 April 2025. The communication remained confidential for 60 days before being made public, giving the Governments time to reply. The Government of Bhutan replied on 2 July 2025, denying all allegations about the involvement of Bhutanese authorities in the arrest of Lok Nath Acharya and stating that they have no knowledge of his whereabouts. If more replies are received, they will be posted on the UN Special Procedures communications database.
Since this communication was sent, there has been no new information regarding Lok Nath Acharya, whose fate and whereabouts remain unknown.
This is a shorter version of the original communication.
BACKGROUND
Topic: the reported deprivation of liberty and enforced disappearance since 2014 of human rights defender Lok Nath Acharya, following his alleged detention in India and extradition to Bhutan, after he travelled to Malbazar in the West Bengal state of India in October 2014 to attend a human rights meeting.
Mr. Lok Nath Acharya is a refugee from Bhutan belonging to the Lhotshampa (Nepalese) ethnic minority, who sought refuge and settled in Nepal after reportedly being forcibly evicted from his home in Bhutan in 1990. Since then and until his detention and enforced disappearance, he worked for the rights of Bhutanese refugees and has been a member of the Human Rights Organisation of Bhutan, based in exile, collecting information on the political and human rights situation in Bhutan with a view to raising awareness at the international level and inside the country.
ALLEGATIONS
In 1990, the Bhutanese authorities reportedly forcibly evicted Mr. Lok Nath Acharya from his home in Bhutan, following a number of public demonstrations that he had organized to protest against the passing of legislation by the Government, including the 1985 Citizenship Act, considered discriminatory against ethnic minorities, including the Lhotshampa.
After his eviction from Bhutan, he settled in Nepal as a refugee with an identification number issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In Nepal, he was reportedly based in the Beldangi II, Sector E3, Refugee Camp in Jhapa.
On 16 October 2014, Mr. Acharya travelled from Siliguri, a town in India, to Malbazar, Jalpaiguri District, in the West Bengal state of India to participate in a human rights meeting. Upon his arrival in Malbazar, he was reportedly apprehended and forcibly returned to Bhutan by plainclothes police officers allegedly members of the Royal Bhutan Police. No arrest warrant nor reason for the detention had reportedly been provided. Allegedly, the Bhutanese authorities had offered a large reward for information on the whereabouts and travel movements of Mr. Acharya.
From 16 to 18 October 2014, he was reportedly detained in the Army Camp in Sanchi District in Bhutan, before allegedly being transferred on 18 October 2014 to Rabuna Army Jail in Wangdue Phodrang District. Between November and December 2014, he was allegedly brought to a hospital in the town of Wangdue Phodrang for a one-day check-up, escorted by police.
To date, Mr. Acharya’s fate and whereabouts remain unknown. His family has reportedly received no official information about his arrest or location, and they have allegedly not been able to visit or contact him since 2014. It is also unknown whether he has been able to access legal assistance, whether he has been brought before a judicial authority, and whether he is facing any charges, or he is awaiting trial, or he has been convicted of any crime.
CONCERNS
In the communication, we express our concern about the reported deprivation of liberty and enforced disappearance since 2014 of human rights defender Lok Nath Acharya, following his alleged detention in India and extradition to Bhutan, where he is believed to have been detained. We fear that Mr. Acharya might have been targeted because of his human rights activities in Bhutan and outside the country, and for exercising his right to freedom of expression.
We are particularly concerned about the lack of information about Mr. Acharya’s fate and whereabouts, which raises questions about his physical and psychological health, integrity and well-being. We urge the Government of Bhutan to conduct thorough, impartial and transparent investigation into the reported enforced disappearance of Mr. Acharya and to take all necessary measures to search for him and establish his fate and whereabouts, in order to provide information to his family about his location and his health condition, to secure his safe return and to prevent any irreparable damage to the life and physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Acharya. We express concern about the chilling effect that the enforced disappearance of human rights defenders has on freedom of expression by instilling fear and self-censorship in those expressing critical views, including activists, journalists, and civil society actors.
We regret the reported lack of arrest warrant and the lack of information about the reasons for Mr. Acharya’s alleged arrest and deprivation of liberty, about whether he has been afforded due process and judicial guarantees, and about his current legal status. In this regard, we call on the Government of Bhutan to provide information about whether Mr. Acharya had access to legal assistance, whether he was brought before a judicial authority, and whether he is awaiting trial or has been convicted of any crime.
We reiterate that any form of incommunicado detention which places the detainee out of contact with the outside world constitutes an enforced disappearance insofar as State agents or other persons acting with their support or acquiescence, fail or refuse to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or conceal the fate or whereabouts of the person deprived of liberty. State authorities are obliged to promptly provide accurate information on the detention of persons deprived of liberty and on their place or places of detention, including transfers, to their family members, to their counsel or to any other persons having a legitimate interest.
