ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the story of Jelbang, a village in Rolpa District of western Nepal, which suffered an unusually high number of deaths during the decade-long "People's War" launched by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). It argues that the high number of deaths in Jelbang was due to a complex interaction of events, circumstances and interrelationships. The most significant contributing factor to the high number of killings in the village, however, was police brutalization of the local population. These include the long history of factionalism in the village; the role of particular individuals in spreading violence, the deployment and brutality of the police, and a particular pattern of police-Maoist revenge killings. With the restoration of democracy in Nepal in April 1990, party politics entered Jelbang, and the local leaders also chose sides. "Raktim" provided an important document on the political history of Jelbang and personal data on sixty individuals who have been declared "martyrs" by the Maoists.
