Kathmandu, August 23

Spokesperson for the Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal Khadga Bahadur Bishwakarma (Prakanda) was rearrested for the third time today after the Supreme Court ordered the government to release him from custody.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Mohan Thapa of Kathmandu Metropolitan Police Range said he was rearrested today as a case had been filed against him in Bhojpur on charges of attempt to murder and bomb blast. “Police have taken him to Bhojpur district,” he said.Bishwakarma faces charges of attempted murder and bomb blast that was carried out on November 19, 2017 in Bhojpur district, according to Thapa.

He was rearrested on August 17, immediately after he was released from detention by a Supreme Court order. Bishwakarma was arrested for the first time in Kathmandu on August 7 on charges of seeking donation illegally.

In response to a habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of Bishwakarma, a division bench of justices Kedar Prasad Chalise and Purushottam Bhandari termed his detention unlawful and ordered the government to release him.

On August 17, police had rearrested Bishwakarma as a case had been filed against him in Kavre District Police Office on charges of arson attack and organised crime.

The SC observed in its order today that it had ordered the government to release Bishwakarma on August 17 as the District Court Kathmandu sent to him to custody without following due process and without offering convincing reasons and in this case too the lower court neither followed the due process nor did it offer convincing reasons for sending Bishwakarma to custody.

The SC also observed that the police violated provisions of the new penal code that came into force on August 17, when Bishwakarma was rearrested. “This court orders the government to release the petitioner in the presence of Chief Registrar of SC Rajan Prasad Bhattarai,” the SC stated in its order.

Senior advocates Shambhu Thapa, Bal Krishna Neupane,  Tulsi Bhatta, Upendra Keshari Neupane,  Ekraj Bhandari and advocates Govinda Bandi and  Sunil Pokharel, and former attorney general Hari Phuyal were among the lawyers who  pleaded on behalf of the petitioner  in the SC.