Many Nepalese children live in children's homes and refuges

The international pressure group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused police in Nepal of torturing children.

The New York-based group said it had received credible claims of more than 200 cases of torture or abuse.

Methods included sticking sharp objects under the toenails and beating the soles of the feet, the group says.

Police deny that children are still being harmed, but a spokesman said a number of officers had been punished for past abuses.

'Committing crimes'

HRW said most of the children involved were suspected of minor crimes or were living on the streets.

It said children had been hit on the thighs, upper arms, backs of hands, backs and the soles of feet with bamboo sticks and plastic pipes.

"The Nepali police have a duty to protect children and to prevent crime," said Bede Sheppard, the group's Asia researcher.

"Instead, by torturing children in custody they are committing crimes against those they are supposed to be protecting."

She said that sometimes the torture was inflicted to extract confessions from the children and at other times it appeared to be carried out "purely for the entertainment of the official".

The youngest alleged victim was a 13-year-old.

HRW said that despite widespread accounts of abuse, no police officer or government official had ever been prosecuted.

It said that the maximum punishment was a fine and one year in prison.

A foreign ministry spokesman joined the police in rejecting the allegations.

"The report is wrong and baseless," Nabin Kumar Ghimire told the AFP news agency.

"If there has been any manhandling, torture or abuse of children in police custody, offenders will face justice," the official said.