Actor Paul Shah unlikely to be released even after acquittal from district court

Published On: January 17, 2023 09:38 PM NPT By: Sairam Uperkoti

KATHMANDU, Jan 17: District Court, Tanahun has acquitted actor Paul Shan, who was accused of raping a minor. District Court Judge Kamal Prasad Acharya on Tuesday gave a clean chit to Shah citing lack of enough evidence to prove him guilty.

Registrar at the District Court, Tanahun Min Bahadur Kunwar informed Republica that the court had acquitted Shah due to lack of evidence.

“However, it does not mean that he will be released immediately,” said Registrar Kunwar, adding, “We will first send a letter to the prison and then the process of his release will begin. We have given him a clean chit but I am not sure about any other pending cases against him in any other court.”

Meanwhile, the District Court based in Nawalparasi East had found Shah guilty of raping a minor in the same case and handed him a two-and-a-half year jail sentence and ordered him to pay compensation of Rs 1 million to the victim.

Information Officer of Nawalpur District Court Lal Bahadur Chhetri said that although the District Court, Tanahun has acquitted Shah, the verdict issued by the Nawalpur District Court remains unchanged.

The district court ruled in favor of the victim after the court was convinced that Shah took undue advantage of the girl by promising to marry her and entered her room in the middle of the night and impregnated her. The court considered the voice record of Shah as evidence in which he is heard saying he will accept the girl only if she is pregnant.

Chhetri said that Shah will be released only if the High Court revokes the decision of the district court.

The lawyers of the minor victim had filed cases against Shah in both Tanahun and Nawalparasi districts. While one of the courts has upheld the charges labeled against him, another court has acquitted him.

Shah is accused of raping a girl below 18 years of age, which is not allowed by the law even if it is done through consent. The 15-year-old victim has accused Shah of enticing her in love and then raping her in a house in Tanahun’s Dulegaida on April 27, 2021.

Shah surrendered to police on February 27, 2022 after the victim filed a police case against him.