Acting on three different proposals from the Ministry of Law and Justice, including one dating back to the time of the Jhalanath Khanal government, the cabinet meeting on Monday withdrew the criminal cases, according to multiple sources at the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Law and Justice. [break]
The sources told Republica that most of the withdrawn cases relate to murder, abduction, arson and robbery and involve Maoist cadres and supporters of the ruling Madhesi parties.
Minister for Law and Justice Brijesh Kumar Gupta confirmed the withdrawals and said, "The cases involve cadres of political parties and have been withdrawn as per an understanding among the ruling parties."
Defending the case withdrawals, the minister referred to the agreement between the UCPN (Maoist) and the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) signed on August 28, 2011, in which the parties agreed to withdraw criminal cases against their respective cadres.
Gupta claimed that the withdrawn cases are political in nature. But some of the documents pertaining to the cases, which were accessed by Republica, show that even abduction cases involving 20 Maoist cadres, including Parshu Thapa and Dik Bahadur Raut in Udayapur, have been dropped on the recommendation of Maoist lawmaker Ram Bahadur Thapa Magar. All the cases are subjudice at Udayapur District Court.
Asked why withdrawal of such serious cases was recommended, Magar, who has a legal background, said, "Even leaders of our party´s state committee and VDC secretaries have been accused in the cases. Such people can hardly be involved in abductions."
Asked why they shouldn´t have awaited the court verticts if he thought they were innocent, he said there was no point letting the "innocent" languish in jail pending the court rulings.
The case of Tarun Dal Chitwan leader Shiva Paudel has also been dropped, in response to a demand of the Nepali Congress. Paudel had died of injuries that he sustained in beatings from inmates in Chitwan jail last December, prompting the Nepali Congress to call a nationwide strike in protest. The NC called off the strike after the government agreed to drop the murder case against Poudel.
Similarly, the government has also withdrawn a conflict-time criminal case against Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal. The case relates to harming of public property and is currently subjudice at Parbat District Court.
The present coalition also had before it a proposal from the time of the Khanal government. The proposal to withdraw criminal cases against 245 Maoist cadres came from then law minister Prabhu Sah and the then cabinet had put it on hold to avoid criticism from the human rights community. The last cabinet meeting approved that pending proposal also, according to Minister Gupta.
Sources at the law ministry said they are writing to the Office of Attorney General on Sunday for implementation of the cabinet decisions.
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