Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, July 27:

Police today arrested Gagan Thapa, former general-secretary of the Nepal Students’ Union, from Singha Durbar Ward Police Station in Anamnagar, where he had gone to meet his six colleagues who are being detained there on the charge of offence against state.

Thapa was produced before the Special Court, which remanded him in seven-day custody.

A three-member bench of judges Govinda Prasad Parajuli, Rana Bahadur Bam and Bhoopdhoj Adhikary permitted the police to detain him for the next seven days to investigate charges against Thapa under the Offence Against State Act, 1989. Thapa has been accused of chanting ‘objectionable’ slogans against the members of the royal family during a rally organised by the Civil Society on Monday. After the court order, police took him to the District Police Office, Hanumandhoka.

The police had produced video footage of the rally before the bench to justify the charge against Thapa.

Thapa told the bench that he had exercised his rights while participating in the rally and that he had not committed any crime. “I don’t know why the police termed my action objectionable,” he told the bench.

After hearing the Special Court order, he said there was no alternative than launching a movement against autocratic rule.

Human rights activists Krishna Pahadi and Dr Devendra Raj Pandey, who had gone to the Special Court to meet Thapa, also voiced their anger against the establishment. “This is not the action taken against Gagan Thapa alone; it is an injustice done to all the Nepalis,” Pahadi said. Thapa’s supporters had chanted slogans demanding his release on the court premises.