Kathmandu, February 22

Nepal Police arrested as many as 1,104 absconders, who were on the run after being convicted by the Supreme Court, high courts and district courts, in the past three months.

A quarterly report card released by the Ministry of Home Affairs said the arrest was a part of the judgement execution drive to end the culture of impunity. The Judgement Execution Directorate under the apex court, in coordination with Nepal Police, has expanded this drive to 24 districts, including Kathmandu valley.

However, data from the JED revealed that total years of jail sentences to be served by the convicts accumulated to 103,842 years and total amount of fines to be recovered from them amounted to Rs 11.89 billion till mid-July. There are still more than 124,000 absconding convicts of which 1,666 are foreigners. The JED works in tandem with Nepal Police to bring the absconding convicts to book. The Central Investigation Bureau and district police offices have been directed to arrest absconding convicts from their respective areas.

The JED has provided details of the convicts with their name, address and verdict date to police units across the country to facilitate their arrest.

Police said search for the absconders was under way and all of them would be brought to book. Police have succeeded in apprehending suspects or convicts of some crimes that were committed 30 years ago.

Similarly, Crime Investigation Department of Nepal has been creating a central criminal database. The database will provide all its units with instant and direct access to criminal information to identify any absconding suspect or convict. Once the database comes into full operation, district police office concerned or investigators can arrest fugitives on the basis of information available on the database. The database is expected to strengthen criminal justice system in the country