KATHMANDU, JUNE 4
Nepal Police arrested as many as 5,179 persons who were absconding after being convicted of various crimes in the first ten months (mid-July to mid-may) of the running fiscal.
According to a report released by the security agency, the arrests were made from different parts of Nepal as well as foreign countries in association with the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL). Those convicted of crimes, including murder, rape, kidnapping, banking offence, human trafficking, fraud, theft, smuggling and forgery, among others, were sentenced to 3 years 11 months and 7 days in jail along with a fine of around Rs 451 million in aggregate.
In August, INTERPOL arrested Kedar Dhungana, 43, of Kavre, a wanted banking offender and document forger, and handed him over to Nepal Police at the latter's request.
Dhungana was sentenced to 10 years in jail along with a fine of Rs 700,000 in 10 separate cases with the order of Kathmandu District Court on 4 January 2021.
Similarly, a murder convict, who had been absconding for 17 years, was arrested from Saudi Arabia. Govinda Magar, 40, of Belaka Municipality, Udayapur, was brought back to the country from Saudi Arabia. Earlier, INTERPOL had issued a red corner notice for the fugitive. Udayapur District Court had convicted him of the murder of Man Bahadur Tamang and sentenced him to jail for 20 years.
In yet another case, a man, who was convicted of smuggling rhino horns, was nabbed after 23 years. Krishna Prasad Neupane, 58, of Chitwan, was handed down 10 years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 100,000 on 7 February 2001 for the crime.
He was arrested on January 21. The arrest of persons, who have been on the run after being convicted of crime, is on the upward trend in recent years. Those who were arrested during the first ten months of the running fiscal were convicted by the Supreme Court, special court, high courts, district courts and the Foreign Employment Tribunal, and had been slapped with imprisonment of up to 20 years in jail.
According to Nepal Police, it has stepped up a special campaign to arrest the absconding convicts and suspects in all the districts to ensure that no one is above the law and that every absconding convict is brought to book, no matter how long it might take.
The constitution, Police Act and Rules and Criminal Code Act require Nepal Police to implement the judgments passed by the courts as a law enforcement agency. Police said people would lose their trust in justice system of the country if judgments passed by the courts were not duly implemented, leading to the culture of impunity.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 5, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
