KATHMANDU: A writ petition was filed today at the Supreme Court (SC) challenging the promotion of Toran Jung Bahadur Singh to the post of Lieutenant General of Nepali Army.

Central committee members of the main opposition Unified CPN-Maoists Krishna KC, Maoists cadres Himal Sharma and Bina Magar jointly filed the petition. The petitioners claimed that the Madhav Kumar led-government promoted Singh despite his background during the King Gyanendra-led autocratic government, which they said was unacceptable in the present context.

The Prime Minister's office and the Cabinet, Minister for Defence Bidhya Devi Bhandari, Army Headquarters, Lt Colonel Singh and the promotion committee led by Ram Chandra Man Singh and Home Secretary Dr Govinda Kusum, Defence Secretary Nabin Ghimire have been named as defendants in the petition. The petitioners claimed that the army officers under the command of Singh had treated the detainees inhumanely at Bhairavnath Battalion and have been indicted by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for human rights violations.

The writ also accused former NA officers Raju Basnet, Bibek Bista, Indibur Rana and Dilip Jung Rayamajhi for the disappearance of 49 persons.

Stating that the promotion of Toran was against ‘the rule of law’, the Civil Rights Act, 1955 and the then Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, they sought the apex court order to quash the government's decision.