Kathmandu, April 17:

Responding to separate habeas corpus petitions, the Supreme Court today ordered the government to release at least 172 persons, including cadres of various political parties and human rights activists.

The SC ordered the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Police Headquarters to release former ministers Ishwor Pokhrel, Raghuji Pant, Astha Laxmi Shakya and Krishna Gopal Shrestha. Two separate benches of Justices Ram Prasad Shrestha and Rajendra Prasad Koirala, and Justices Badri Kumar Basnet and Kalyan Shrestha issued the orders.

The court also ordered the government to release Pashupati Chaulagain, Lal Bahadur Tamang, Gopal Shakya, Dev Raj Ghimire, Purna Prasad Gautam, Dan Bahadur Dangol, Santosh Timalsena, Arun Nepal, Daya Ram Khadka, Bhim Raj Angdambe and Kamal Itani, all of whom were arrested a few days ago while participating in a protest rally. The benches, stating that there was no ground to arrest the protesters, termed their detention “illegal”.

The Nepal Bar Association (NBA) and family members of the detainees had filed separate habeas corpus petitions seeking the release of those arrested. In another development, the SC ordered the government to produce before it, among others, human rights activist Kapil Shrestha on April 19 and political leader Sujata Koirala on April 20.

Meanwhile, a habeas corpus petition was filed at the SC seeking the release of 16 journalists who were arrested from a protest rally a few days ago.