E/CN.4/2001/66 page 105 La circunstancia que los principales responsables de esas violaciones sean agentes de la Policia Nacional Civil, en especial de su Servicio de Investigación Criminal, ha frustado las expectativas de contar con una renovada institución policial única subordinada al mando civil y depurada de los vicios que caracterizaron a las instituciones policiales del pasado.” (CAT/C/XXV/Concl. 6). Guinea-Bissau 527. By letter dated 8 November 2000, the Special Rapporteur reminded the Government of a number of cases transmitted in 1999 regarding which no reply had been received. Haiti 528. By letter dated 8 November 2000, the Special Rapporteur reminded the Government of a number of cases transmitted in 1997 and 1999 regarding which no reply had been received. Honduras 529. By letter dated 8 November 2000, the Special Rapporteur reminded the Government of a number of cases transmitted in 1998 regarding which no reply had been received. India 530. By letter dated 16 August 2000, the Special Rapporteur advised the Government that he had received information according to which human rights defenders are subjected to several forms of harassment, including severe acts of violence, and that impunity prevails in several cases where human rights defenders were subjected to torture. Many apparently peaceful protests by those defending human rights have reportedly been broken up by the security forces using excessive force. Demonstrators are said to be often severely beaten with lathis (long wooden sticks) and kicked. Numerous incidents of police shootings leading to death or injury are said not to have been properly investigated. In particular, the Special Rapporteur has transmitted information on the following individual cases. 531. Bhanwari Devi, a saathin (village development worker) working with the State-sponsored Women’s Development Programme in Bhateri village, Rajasthan, to eradicate child marriage, was allegedly raped by five men of a higher caste on 22 September 1992. The rape was believed to be a punishment for her activities. The police reportedly initially refused to record her statement. The inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) allegedly subjected her to excessive questioning about the incident. The trial began in a lower court only in October 1994. In a verdict given in November 1995, the Court found that the delay in filing her complaint with the police and in obtaining a medical examination indicated that she had made the story up. The men were reportedly acquitted of the charge of gang rape but convicted of minor crimes. An appeal against this judgement was lodged in the Rajasthan High Court. 532. On 2 October 1994 over 200 buses carrying activists calling for a separate hill state of Uttarakhand in north India bound for a rally in Delhi were stopped by district authorities who attempted to persuade them not to attend the rally. The police are reported to have opened fire without warning. Twenty-four activists were killed and several injured. Several women