Lawyer-turned lawmaker Prabhu Sah and lawyer Raman Shrestha said the SC's recent decision regarding the jurisdiction of the newly-formed Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Commission on Enquiry of Enforced Disappearances (CEED) is against the spirit of the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA).
The SC in its verdict had said that conflict era cases already been taken up by a court can't be transferred to TRC or CEED and that TRC and CEED can't give any amnesty to perpetrators convicted in cases of serious human rights violations.
The TRC and CEED Act, however, had envisioned allowing the TRC and CEED to look into cases registered in court. The act also authorizes the two commissions to give amnesty to perpetrators in certain cases.
Court cannot look into wartime incidents, they fall under TRC’s...
“The SC' verdict regarding the TRC act is against the principle of transitional justice," Shrestha told a group of journalists at Singha Durbar on Monday. “Is SC trying to revive all war-era cases and invite another conflict in the country?" He accused the judiciary of trying to derail the peace process by issuing verdict against the CPA.
Shrestha also accused NHRC of not playing a neutral role in some conflict-era cases such as the one related to Nanda Prasad and Gangamaya Adhikari of Phujel, Gorkha. “The NHRC has of late playing quite a biased role," said Sah.
Similarly, the lawyers also accused the NBA of taking the Judicial Council hostage of indecision by not recommending its representative to the council.
