A division bench of SC Justices Kheel Raj Regmi and Bharat Raj Uprety issued a ruling to this effect. The SC however, rejected the government´s decision to withdraw cases registered at the courts after the signing of the CPA.[break]
Scrapping a writ petition filed by advocate Madhav Basnet, the SC gave its nod to the government´s decision to retract 349 cases some two years ago. The then Maoist-led government had decided to retract hundreds of cases, citing political reasons.
During the insurgency period, the government had filed a number of cases of treason, murder and kidnapping against Maoist leaders and cadres at various district courts.
The SC has set out mainly two reasons for scrapping the writ petition filed by advocate Basnet. First, the SC said the district court concerned can itself decide whether to allow a case withdrawal. And secondly, the government enjoys the right to retract cases as per provisions incorporated in the CPA.
“It is for the district court concerned to decide whether to allow the authorities to retract a case pending in a court,” states the SC ruling, adding, “The SC cannot intervene in such matter by entertaining a writ petition.”
On July 14, the SC had stayed a government decision to withdraw cases filed in the courts, pending a final ruling by the apex court.
Writ petitioner Basnet had claimed that the government´s decision violated victims´ right to justice.
In its decision taken nearly two years ago, the government had also decided to withdraw murder cases. The writ petitioner argued that the decision to retract murder cases was a blatant violation of Article 24 of the Interim Constitution and previous court orders.
The SC division bench is yet to issue the full text of its ruling. “Let´s see the full text first,” said advocate Basnet, adding, “One of the major objectives of my writ petition was to see a SC ruling to the authorities to formulate a clear-cut directive regarding case withdrawals” However, the SC is silent in its brief text about the formulation of any such directive.
Basnet said he is pleased to see the SC ruling negating the government´s decision to withdraw cases registered after the signing of the CPA.
Basnet had filed two different writ petitions against the government´s decision to retract cases. In a similar case, the SC had ordered the government some two and half years back to seek prior consent from the court concerned if it wanted to withdraw a criminal case.
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