17 detainees freed

SYANGJA: The Syangja District Court on Monday ordered release of 17 political detainees arrested for protesting against the autocratic regime. Buddhi Sagar Bhandari, Parishwor Neupane, Raghu Thapa and Arjun Subedi were released on Sunday while Prithvi Prasad Pokharel, Bishnu Prasad Upadhyaya, Prem Bahadur Gurung, Suresh Pokharel, Chiranjibi Bhandari, Jagannath Bhattarai, Dipak Pande, Suman Aryal, Kedar Prasad Aryal, Dut Prasad Pangeni, Narayan Aryal, Ganesh Pathak and Mitra Lal Pande were released on Friday. They were released in presence of human rights activists and the court. — HNS

3 killed in mishap

SYANGJA: Three people were killed on the spot and 10 others were seriously injured as a jeep bound for Dhapuk Simal Bhanjyang from Bayarghari of Syangja met with an accident on Monday evening, police said. The jeep (Lu 1 Ja 2836) skidded of the road and fell about 150 metres down the road due to overload, police said. The injured passengers were taken to Pokhara for treatment. The name of the deceased are yet to be identified, police said. The accident spot is situated 17 km south-west from Syangja district headquarters. — HNS

SC frees students

KATHMANDU: The Supreme Court on Monday ordered the government to release more than a dozen of student leaders responding to separate habeas corpus petition. A division bench of justices Damodar Prasad Sharma and Rajendra Prasad Koirala issued the order following Monday’s hearing. The bench ordered the Home Ministry, the Police Headquarters to release Khimlal Bhattarai, Mahendra Sharma, Guru Raj Ghimire, Ram Kumari Jhankri, Indu Sharma, Yagya Panta, Guru Raj Acharya, Govinda Gautam, Devi Thapali, Prem Gurugain, Badri Pandey. The student leaders were produced before the apex court on Monday. — HNS

College locked up

BAGLUNG: Students of Baglung-based Mahendra Multiple Campus locked up the college for indefinite period on Monday. The students have demanded release of the campus’ Free Students’ Union (FSU) president Govinda Nepali, and four others student leaders. According to FSU vice president Kamal Adhikari, a group of FSU members had gone to local administration to ask for the arrested students’ release and the local administration has assured to release them. — HNS

Health camp held

MYAGDI: A camp on Obstetrics-Gynecology was held recently at the District Hospital, Myagdi. Some 800 women of Myagdi, Baglung and Parbat districts and adjacent villages underwent treatment and 113 women with prolapsed uterus underwent operation at the camp, which was jointly organised by the District Hospital, Myagdi, and the International Nepal Fellowship (INF).— RSS

Welfare for war-hit

JAJARKOT: The Daphne youth club with the assistance of UNDP conducted various programmes under the Local Initiation for Conflict Transformation and Peace Establishment. The club provided Rs 10,000 each to ten conflict-hit people to initiate retail shop for their income generation. Similarly, pig rearing training was given to ten conflict-hit Dalit community women of Khalanga VDC- 9 and Dada VDC- 1. They were also given four pigs each. The organisation distributed education materials worth Rs 2500 each to 111 conflict-hit students. — RSS

Civilian shot

NEPALGUNJ: An unidentified gunman on Monday gunned down a civilian, Top Bahadur Raskoti, at the office of Kohalpur VDC in Banke district. Eyewitnesses said the man shot him twice on the VDC office premises killing 35-year-old Rastakoti on the spot. The shooter managed to escape after the incident. Police suspect Maoist hand in the shooting. — HNS

Meet on cellphones

JANAKPUR: A meeting of the security committee, to be held on Tuesday, is to decide on whether to resume the service of the post paid mobile phones of the Nepal Telecom in Janakpur, a source at NT said. The NT post-paid mobile phone service was stalled from January 27 in Janakpur zone. Meanwhile, there will be no reduction in curfew timings ( being imposed from 8 pm to 4 pm daily) in Janakpur for the time being, high-ranking officials said. — HNS

Vehicles banned

SINDHULI: The District Administration Office, Sindhuli, citing security reasons, has banned vehicular movement along the 14-km Sindhulimadhi-Pipalbhanjyang section of the BP Highway.— RSS