Life imprisonment sought in new constitution

KAVRE, July 19

Sanjeeb Dhakal, a resident of Kashikhanda Municipality Fulbari, says there must be life imprisonment penalty for those guilty of corruption, rape and abduction, in Kavre.

He said,” life imprisonment and death penalty are almost similar. If death penalty is not in place, life imprisonment should be introduced in the new constitution of Nepal,” he said, adding that it was a must to curb growing crime in the country.

Likewise, Daya Sagar Shrestha of Dhulikhel said, “The constitution promulgated before the geographical demarcation and nomenclature will be incomplete. It is wrong to issue the constitution without delimiting the territory and finalising the names as the country has adopted federalism.” He opined that the judiciary should be autonomous. “Somewhere, I felt as if the judiciary and the press were deprived of their full-fledged freedom in the draft,” he said.

Kapil Mani Humagain, a person working in the field of disability said the National Commission for Disabilities should be established in Nepal and it should be mentioned in the statute itself. He also sought proper representation of the people with disabilities in all agencies across the country.

CPN-UML Kavre leader Ashok Byanju advised granting of Nepali citizenship certificates to non-resident Nepalis only after identifying their nationality. “Dual citizenship must reflect the nationality of a country. Otherwise, they might be involved in criminal activities as well,” he said.

Journalist Ishwori Ojha accused the government of trying to curb press freedom in the draft constitution.

Shyam Pariyar advised assurance of representation of Dalit communities in all sectors. Binod Sapkota of Community Forest said that fundamental rights of the local community should be guaranteed, especially in utilisation of local resources.

Sunil Shrestha of Dulikhel said that a person should hold a position for a single term in every office, whereas Sanjib Neupane, a student, demanded that free education should be managed at least up to grade 12 by the state.

Khadga Prasad Sapkota, a teacher, highlighted the necessity of Teacher’s Commission. Durga Singh Tamang, a UCPN-Maoist teacher, advised directly elected President.

Participants at the feedback collection centre suggested that ward Chairperson should be elected directly for a certain period and election should be held by the Election Commission. He added that a political cadre should work without state remuneration, among others.

Constitution Feedback Committee is all set to collect feedback in all four constituencies on July 20 and 21 about the draft constitution.

VDC Secretaries have been deployed to collect both written and oral suggestions at the village level.