The full text of the top court on the Tikapur carnage says Resham's pardon was unlawful
The Supreme Court on Wednesday released the full text of its verdict on the Kailali carnage that took place on August 24, 2015, one month before the promulgation of the new constitution. The full text has said former lawmaker and leader of the newly-formed Nagarik Unmukti Party, Resham Chaudhary, was directly involved in the massacre, in which eight police personnel and a toddler were killed. As many as 57 others were charge-sheeted in the murder and attempt to murder. Thirty-one of the accused are still absconding. The top court has stated that the statements of the co-accused before the police, their deposition in the court, government witnesses' statements before the police and the court and call details of Resham's mobile phones proved his involvement in the Tikapur, Kailali incident. Kailali District Court had, in March 2019, sentenced Resham to life imprisonment (20 years in prison) for his role in the Tikapur carnage, which was endorsed by the Diapayal High Court. The SC endorsed the lower courts' verdict on the case. Resham who had absconded after the incident had surrendered on February 26, 2018. Several other co-accused, who recorded their statements before the court, had admitted the incident occurred under Resham's 'planning and direction'.
However, President Ramchandra Paudel granted Chaudhary pardon from all charges at the recommendation of the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government, and he was released from jail on Republic Day on May 29, going against the constitutional and legal provisions, that too, before the publication of the top court's full text. As per the constitutional and legal provisions, the government cannot recommend for a presidential pardon without the consent of the top court, which had endorsed the verdicts of the Kailali district court and the Dipayal-based High Court. In its conviction ruling, the SC placed its reliance on a co-accused, Karan Chaudhary, a minor, who recorded his statement before the police and the court maintaining consistency when he said Resham, who was present during the incident, congratulated him and took him in his arms.
Resham Chaudhary was released from jail unlawfully simply to secure a majority in Sudurpaschim Province, where the Nepali Congress and CPN-Maoist Centre could not form the government without the support of Nagarik Unmukti Party, which has seven seats in the Sudurpashchim Province Assembly.
Although Chaudhary pled having an alibi during the incident, his phone details proved that he was near the incident site, and was directing his cadres to attack the police personnel. The government can recommend for a presidential pardon or general amnesty when a convict has spent 40 per cent of the jail sentence on other charges than specified. The Criminal Procedure Code-2017 states that a person convicted of corruption, torture, rape, murder in a cruel and inhumane way, genocide, illegal use of explosives, kidnapping, hostage-taking, enforced disappearance, human trafficking and transportation, money laundering, and narcotic drug trafficking or transaction punishable by a sentence of imprisonment for a term exceeding three years cannot enjoy the presidential pardon. So, the presidential pardon to Resham was a violation of the law.
Airport security
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal at an interaction held at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers the other day said that the security at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) needed an overhaul. Indeed, the rampant smuggling that takes place through the airport is a threat not only to the security of our country but that of our neighbours as well. Security breaches at the TIA, the gateway to the country, had been reported from time to time, but they fell on deaf ears until a massive haul of gold weighing a hundred kilos was unearthed recently from its premises. Tons of gold are said to have found easy passage through the customs in the last few months, indicating the presence of a well-organised criminal group.
The PM told the participants at the interaction that a taskforce would be formed to prepare a report on enhancing security at the airport. This should be done at the earliest as besides gold, other contraband such as drugs or even arms could be smuggled into the country. The smuggling of such large quantities of gold through the airport could not have taken place without a nexus with the corridors of power. The government must exhibit the political will to break that nexus.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 18, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
