Kathmandu, Nov 29:

A jailbird is cooling his heels in the central jail even after he completed the jail term slapped by the court.

Due to the delay in preparation of the judgment by the Kathmandu District Court , the jailbird is unable to move the Appellate Court .

Convicting Prakash Karki and Shesh Dil Mohammad for stealing a motorbike, the KDC had slapped a one-month jail term and imposed a fine of Rs 35,000 fine on them “After that we have been awaiting the text of the judgment to file an appeal in the Appellate Court,” Prakash’s sister Sabitri told this daily. She has been regularly visiting the court to get a copy of the judgment. “We cannot raise the amount to pay the fine to set him free,” she added.

“We are awaiting the text of the judgment even five months after the verdict,” Sabitri added. Mohammad was freed after he paid the fine.

“This raises a question on the working style of the court. What would happen if a person gets a short period of jail sentence and wants to file an appeal in the appellate court?” asked advocate Baburam Dahal. “This is nothing but negligence of the court administration.”

“This is a problem we have been facing. We are convinced that he is unable to exercise his right to appeal but he can be free any day if pays the fine,” KDC’s registrar Krishna Ram Koirala said. “We have some procedural errors to prepare the judgment though we have concentrated on it,” he said.