The Janakpur High Court has upheld a lower court's decision to sentence three people found guilty of killing journalist Uma Singh in 2009, to life imprisonment.
This statement was originally published on nepalpressfreedom.org on 22 March 2017.
The Janakpur High Court has upheld a lower court’s decision to sentence three people found guilty of killing journalist Uma Singh in 2009, to life imprisonment. In the verdict issued on March 15, 2017 the three – Nemlal Paswan, Umesh Yadav alias Swamiji and Singh’s sister in law, Lalita Devi Singh – were sentenced to life imprisonment and seizure of all their properties.
Judges Narayan Prasad Pokharel and Chandra Bahadur Sadhu issued the verdict following an appeal filed by the three after the Dhanusha district court found them guilty in 2015.
At that time, they had brought their case to the Appellate Court, which is now the High Court as per the federal set up.
Uma Singh was a reporter with the local Janakpur Today daily and Radio Today. She was killed in her rented house on January 11, 2009.
Though very late, the court decision has received wide applause. Freedom Forum welcomes the court’s decision that is a step forward in bringing justice to victims. It is expected that the decision will help reduce impunity on crimes against media persons in the country.
Last December, the same district court had issued a decision on remanding custody to suspended lawmaker Sanjay Sah, a suspect in the 2010 murder of media entrepreneur Arun Singhaniya. The case is still pending.
