KATHMANDU, May 21: Rastriya Janata Party Nepal (RJPN) has drawn the attention of the government to make public a report prepared by a commission formed under the leadership of former Supreme Court justice Girish Chandra Lal to probe the violation of human rights during the Tarai-Madhes movement of 2015/16.
Speaking at parliament on Monday, RJPN lawmaker Chanda Chaudhary urged the government to make the report public. “We have been asking the government to make the Lal commission report public for long. However, it has not made the report public despite an instruction for the same by the Speaker,” she said.
As soon as the parliament session began on Monday, the RJPN lawmakers started protesting against the government for not making the report public. Then Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara gave the floor to RJPN lawmaker Chaudhary.
Govt agrees to publicize Lal panel report
“I think the government has already taken note of this issue and it will come up with answers for not making the report public after some time. As you all know, my attention has already been drawn to this issue,” Mahara said on the occasion.
RJPN has been mounting pressure on the government to publicize the report although the governments formed after the political change of 2006 have never made public the reports submitted by similar commissions. The party began exerting pressure mainly after its lawmaker Resham Chaudhary, who was convicted in the 2015 Tikapur massacre and has been serving a life term, was sworn in as a member of the House of Representatives in January 2019.
Chaudhary was elected to the lower house from the same district while he was still on the run after the incident. His party has been demanding amnesty for him arguing that the Tikapur incident was part of a 'political movement'.
Seven security personnel including a Senior Superintendent of Police and a toddler were killed by local protestors in Tikapur of Kailali district in August 2015. Police have gathered evidence that Chaudhary had masterminded the massacre.
Following pressure from the Madhes-based parties, the then government had formed the high-level commission led by former justice Lal in September 2016 to probe human rights violation committed during the Madhes movement in the run up to the promulgation of the constitution. The commission submitted its report to the government in December 2017.
