The case filed by the victim's wife in 2007 was withdrawn by the then UCPN-Maoist government in 2009, under the guise that the case was of a political nature.
(Freedom Forum/IFEX) – The Kanchanpur District Court is to file a case on the murder of journalist Prakash Thakuri from Mahendranagar, a far western district of Nepal, after the Supreme Court (SC) issued a mandate to this effect.
The case, filed by the victim’s wife, Janaki Thakuri, at the District Police Office Kanchanpur on November 9, 2007, claimed that cadres of UCPN-Maoist had abducted her husband from their rented apartment at Bhasi, Mahendranagar. It was withdrawn by the then government led by UCPN-Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ on October 28, 2009, dubbing the case of a political nature.
The SC said in a mandate on February 23, 2011 that crimes committed after the Comprehensive Peace Accord could not be ignored in the name of politics.
Record keeper at the Kanchanpur District Court, Dilip Raj Pant said they would be filing the case again soon. He added that the entire proceeding documents of the case sent by the SC had been received by the court.
Thakuri had lodged a complaint after her husband disappeared from Kanchanpur on July 5, 2007, claiming that Maoist cadres – Pomlal Sharma, Jagat Kshetry, Chandrakanta Bhatta and four others – were involved in his abduction and disappearance.
After the government withdrew the case saying it was of a political nature, the Federation of Nepali Journalists and Advocacy Forum filed a writ petition in 2009 in the SC to the Kanchanpur District Court, Home Ministry, Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, and the Office of the Kanchanpur District Attorney.
Though late, the SC order to file the case again in the district court will help diminish pessimism about the case. Freedom Forum applauds the SC order and the Kanchanpur District Court’s preparation to file the case against the suspects.
