KATHMANDU, JUNE 22

The Supreme Court has issued an interim order against the government decision to withdraw the case filed against attackers of Tribhuvan University Sociology Department Assistant Professor Prem Chalaune.

Today, a single bench of Supreme Court Justice Manoj Kumar Sharma issued an interim order not to implement the decision to withdraw the case.

Justice Sharma also issued a show-cause order in the name of the defendants including Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers to submit clarification for withdrawing the case.

After the government decided to withdraw the case against a group of students of Nepal Students Union through a Cabinet meeting, Chalaune moved to the Supreme Court and registered a writ petition.

The assistant professor was brutally bruised, beaten and physically assaulted by Nepali Congress Sister organisation Nepal Students Union on 6 October 2020.

The TU Chapter President of Nepali Congress-Nepal Students Union, Hari Acharya and General Secretary of NSU Yogendra Rawal and other members, were accused of beating up the professor.

Chalaune had to spend a month in the hospital due to sustained injuries on his head, chest and thighs.

While the case against five people, including Acharya, was pending in Kathmandu District Court, at the insistence of then home minister Balkrishna Khand, on the recommendation of then attorney general Khamm Bahadur Khati, the case was sent to the Ministry of Law for opinion.

But the then law minister Gobind Bandi had put the recommendation on hold.

But as soon as Dhanraj Gurung became law minister, Gurung approved the recommendation and sent it to the Council of Ministers through the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The Cabinet meeting held on June 13 had decided to withdraw the case as a political incident.

Two days before the date of the final hearing on June 20, i.e. only on June 18, an application was submitted to Kathmandu District Court by the District Public Attorneys' Office, Kathmandu, for withdrawal of the case. However, after District Judge Rajendra Kumar Shrestha ordered that the case be brought directly to the bench without filing it, a summons was given on Friday for hearing on the case's withdrawal.

But after the assistant professor reached the Supreme Court yesterday against the government's decision, an interim order was issued on the writ today.

Earlier, an attempt to murder case was filed against a group comprising Hari Acharya, president of the Union University Committee, Secretary Yogendra Rawal, Rupesh Shah, Ravin Lama, Sahayuj Shrestha, Niraj Ranamgar, and Deepak Ojha at Kathmandu District Court.

Professor Chalanue is on hunger strike on TU premises against the decision to withdraw the case.

The interim order has been perceived as partial victory for assistant professor Chalaune, who has pledged to stage fastunto-death until the government revokes its decision to withdraw the case against his assailants.

A version of this article appears in the print on June 23, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.