KATHMANDU, JUNE 13
The Supreme Court has issued a show cause notice to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and former prime minister Baburam Bhattarai in a case filed against them by former Moist child soldiers seeking to prosecute PM Dahal and Bhattarai under war crimes law.
A single bench of Justice Sapana Pradhan Malla issued the show cause notice and also listed the case for priority hearing. Now, PM Dahal and Bhattarai will have to submit their written replies.
The Supreme Court had, on June 11, admitted the petition filed by nine former Maoist child soldiers, including Lenin Bista.
The petitioners have said that the Maoist party should take responsibility for inducting minors into its army, starting the people's war and causing loss of lives and property. The petitioners have sought enough reparation and long-term assistance for the time they were compelled to work as child soldiers.
Stating that they were given the tag of ineligible combatants before they were disqualified by the UNMIN, the petitioners said they were forcibly drafted into the Maoist army in clear violation of international human rights laws, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Conventions on the Rights of the Child.
Bista has also stated in the petition that he was falsely implicated in theft and call bypass cases to discourage him from pursuing the case of child soldiers.
The petitioners urged the court to suspend the PM until the war crime case against him is adjudicated.
They have also named the National Human Rights Commission, home ministry, Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons, and others as defendants.
This is the second case that the PM faces in the apex court. Earlier some conflict victims had filed a petition at the SC seeking to prosecute PM Dahal for his alleged public speech three years ago when he said he could be blamed only for 5,000 conflict era deaths.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 14, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
