E-Kantipur

KATHMANDU, JAN 27 -

As part of an earlier agreement among coalition partners, line ministries have forwarded to the Cabinet yet another proposal to withdraw cases involving some 24 individuals charged with serious crimes, including robbery and arson.

The new list of cases forwarded by the Home Ministry includes individuals close to the ruling Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Loktantrik (MJF-L), Tarai Madhes Loktantrik Party (TMLP) and also the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha, an alliance of the ruling Madhesi parties, a highly-placed government source said.

The withdrawal requests were registered with the Cabinet only this week.

In December, the Home Ministry had forwarded over a dozen criminal cases involving more than 130 individuals for withdrawal.

Of the three files forwarded to the Cabinet this week,

one concerning over 40 individuals has been sent back to the Home Ministry, citing “inadequate information”, while the other two involving 24 individuals have been submitted to the Cabinet for final endorsement.

Arrest warrants against all the 64 individuals have already been issued after initial hearings in district courts.

One of the robbery and arson cases registered on March 24, 2009 by one Devendra Raj Kandel in the Nawalparasi District Court, which has been recommended for withdrawal, involves robbery of Rs 3,500,000. The FIR filed at the district police office shows 13 ‘robbers’ in the accused list, including Jamil Kujada, Ghanshyam Gupta, Krishna Mohan Giri, Om Prakash Mishra and Mahendra Nigam. Though the court issued arrest warrants against them, all 13 are at large. At the party level, the MJF-L, TMLP and the Morcha had decided separately to request the government for withdrawal of the case on July 24, August 25 and August 3, 2009 respectively.

Another case registered in the Mahottari District Court on January 27, 2008 involves arson and robbery of property worth Rs 1,800,000. The court issued arrest warrants against all the 11 accused, including one Rabindra Thakur. All of them are absconding. The case was forwarded to the Cabinet through the Ministry of Law and Justice for withdrawal, based on the decision of the MJF (May 22, 2008) and the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction (December 16, 2008).

Though there has been widespread criticism from human rights watchdogs, including the National Human Rights Commission and the OHCHR, and the international community such as the US and the EU, governments formed since the 2006 Jana Andolan have withdrawn over 500 cases involving over 1,500 individuals. The governments said all the cases were of “political nature”.  Rights bodies, however, argue that given Nepal’s obligation under international treaties, including the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights, serious crimes such as murder and arson, which have “universal jurisdiction,” cannot be withdrawn or pardoned even if they are of political nature.

Posted on: 2012-01-27 08:31

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