Attackers Rohit Koirala and Manoj Singh Rai had appealed to the Appellate Court seeking reversal of the district court order. [break]
A bench of judges Janardan Bahadur Khadka and Rewant Kunwar of the Appellate Court issued the verdict stating that there was no need for reconsideration on the issue.
Lawyers Hemraj Pant, Binaya Raj Pandey, Prakash Nath Upreti, Kalyan KC, Bharat Thapa, Devendra Koirala, Shanti Modi, Raj Kumar Rajbanshi, Chakra Bahadur Adhikari, Kumar Adhikari, Puroshottam Nepal, Pikam Rai and Uddav Chandra Ghimire had pleaded on behalf of journalist Dhakal.
Lawyers who pleaded on behalf of the attackers were Bipulendra Chakrawarti, Ram Prasad Sitaula, Yogendra Sharma Neupane, Devi Bahadur Ghimire, Suresh Lal Shrestha, Ramesh Koirala, and Ramesh Prasain, among others.
Parshuram Basnet, the mastermind of the attack on Dhakal, is still absconding. A 70-day court warrant has been issued against him both for the attack on Dhakal and attack on Abhishek Giri.
Dhakal was mercilessly thrashed by Basnet´s men on June 5 for his news reports on the June 1 court attack.
Morang chapter of Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) has filed a murder case against the attack on Dhakal on June 6. Koirala and Rai were physically involved in the attack. The FNJ has welcomed the Appellate Court decision. It said the decision stands in favor of the rule of law and press freedom.
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