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| Kathmandu, Saturday January 18, 2003 Magh 04, 2059. |
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Govt ignores SC orders on
presenting detainees
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Jan 17 : The government has failed to
comply with the Supreme Court order for the release of five detainees issued 11 days ago.
The Supreme Court, which first ordered their
release on January 5, reiterated its stand on Wednesday asking the government for the
immediate compliance of the release order.
The mysterious non-compliance by the government
has now become major bone of contention between the Lokendra Bahadur Chand-led government
and the Supreme Court with National Human Rights Commission siding with the apex
judiciary.
Meanwhile, the government today, through the
Central Jail authorities, sent a letter to the Supreme Court stating that one of the five
detainees, Narayan Adhikari, was not in its custody. However, it remained silent about the
other four.
Tshe five accused were arrested by the security
forces on charges of being Maoists under the Terrorist and Destructive Activities
(Prevention and Control) Act.
Sources at the Supreme Court told The Kathmandu
Post that the delayed action on the part of the government could be because the government
"may not have officially received the order of the court."
The developments come a day after the Chairman
of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Nayan Bahadur Khatri, sent a letter to the
Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand urging the government to respect the basic human
rights of the people as prescribed in the Constitution.
Khatri’s letter came in the wake of the
violation of the Supreme Court order regarding the release of the five detainees. Khatri
in the letter has reminded Prime Minister Chand about NHRC’s similar letter sent
nearly two months back and urged not to ignore the issues raised by the NHRC.
He asked the Prime Minister to take necessary
initiatives to seek cooperation from the United Nations’ High Commission for Human
Rights (UNHCHR) to stop increasing human rights violations.
NHRC has flayed the government for declining to
respect the apex court’s order to release the people who were imprisoned illegally.
"It would be ridiculous if the government does not obey the Court’s orders and
encourages gross violation of human rights," the letter stated.
The accused put under government detention were
Dambar Karki, Haridwar Munwar, Shantiram Bhattarai, Narayan Adhikari and Chaturman Gurung.
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