KATHMANDU, MAY 25

The Ministry of Home Affairs has forwarded Resham Chaudhary's petition for commutation of his jail sentence to President Ramchandra Paudel.

Chaudhary who was indicted in the Tikapur carnage that killed eight police personnel and one toddler, was convicted by Kailali District Court. This decision was upheld by Dipayal High Court and also the Supreme Court. Chaudhary was awarded life imprisonment of 20 years.

President Paudel's Legal Adviser Senior Advocate Baburam Kunwar told THT that the President's Office had received petition from the home ministry at 2.30pm yesterday and the President's Office was studying the case. Article 276 of the constitution grants the president power to pardon. It says: The president may, in accordance with law, grant pardons, suspend, commute or remit any sentence passed by any court, judicial or quasi-judicial institution or administrative authority or institution.

The home ministry is required by law to forward the petition along with the final judgement.

An official at the Office of the Attorney General said the home ministry had asked his office whether or not the court verdict was final in the case of Resham Chaudhary and the OAG told the home ministry that the court verdict was final as the lower court's verdict was upheld by both the High Court and the Supreme Court.

As per Section 159 of Muluki Criminal Procedure Code, if the president tells the home ministry to take necessary action on the petition sent to him, the home ministry can make recommendation to the Council of Ministers taking into account the nature of offence, among others.

Section 159 has a negative list of 10 offences, including rape and corruption where a convict cannot seek clemency or commutation of a punishment. The official at the OAG said that section 159 of Muluki Criminal Procedure Code stated that if a convict who is guilty of murdering somebody in cruel manner or after taking the victim in his/her control, then the convict of such crime cannot get presidential pardon or any relief listed in Article 276 of the constitution.

'One can raise question saying police personnel were killed in brutal manner and Chaudhary, who was convicted for the Kailali carnage cannot qualify for amnesty or commutation of his sentence under Section 159 of Muluki Criminal Code, but Kailali carnage took place in 2015, much before the code was enacted,' the source said and added that Chaudhary's case was filed under Section 13 (3) of homicide chapter of the erstwhile Muluki Ain.

Section 41 of Muluki Criminal Code Act stipulates that if anybody is held guilty of torturing somebody in cruel manner before killing the person or if anybody is held guilty of killing somebody in cruel manner then that person shall be imprisoned till his death. This punishment has not been awarded to Chaudhary by the court. Nagarik Unmukti Party which has four lawmakers in the HoR has made the release of Chaudhary a top priority.

NUP is led by Chaudhary's wife Ranjita Shrestha who is currently the minister of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation.

Chaudhary has remained in jail since he surrendered before Kailali District Court in Dhangadi on 26 February 2018.

He had won parliamentary elections held in 2017 from Kailali-1 constituency with a huge margin of votes.

Kunwar said the president would take a call on the home ministry's proposal after the President's Office staff studied the document.

If the governments decides to grant amnesty to Chaudhary, he could walk out of jail on Republic Day.

A version of this article appears in the print on May 26, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.