Nepali man released on bail after 40 years in Indian prison

Published On: March 20, 2021 03:26 PM NPT By: Bhim Chapagain

ILAM, March 20: A Nepali national Dipak Jaishi a.k.a. Durga Prasad Timsina, who was languishing in a correction home in India for the past 40 years without any trials, has been released on Saturday.

According to the Secretary at the Consulate General of Nepal in Kolkata Satish Thapa, Calcutta High Court released Joshi from Dum Dum Correction Home at around 11 am on Saturday. He was arrest in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal for the alleged murder of a woman there back in 1981.

The High Court has cited his poor health condition for the release of Jaishi. “The court order has made it mandatory to provide details about his health condition to the court every six months. The full text of the court is yet to be received,” said Thapa.

According to Thapa, Dipak did not speak anything with his friends and family members who reached there to receive him. “He speaks very softly. We have not been able to take any reaction from him now,” he said.

Dipak’s cousin Prakash Sharma and a few other relatives had reached Calcutta to receive him from Mai Municipality in Ilam District. “He will take a rest for a few hours at the Consulate General’s Office after the release. He will then be taken to his home in Nepal via Siliguri,” said Thapa.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice T.B.N. Radhakrishnan and Justice Aniruddha Roy had earlier ordered the release of Jaishi and entrusted his custody to his cousin Prakash Chandra Sharma Timsina, who became a party to the case after learning about his whereabouts, according to Indian media reports. Advocate Hirak Sinha had provided pro bono service on behalf of Dipak.

A permanent resident of Phakphokthum Rural Municipality in Ilam, Dipak, then 20 years old, had gone to Magalbare Bazar in Ilam to sell mustard back in January 1980. Family members did not know his whereabouts since that day as he did not return home. It was later learned that he had then reached Darjeeling where he worked as a tea estate worker. He was arrested on a charge of murdering a woman—the charge yet to be examined carefully.