Monday, April 17, 2006

SC Tells Govt To Free 172 Leaders, Activists

Kathmandu, April 17- Responding to different habeas corpus cases, the Supreme Court on monday ordered the government to release at least 172 political leaders, activists and human rights activists.

Following a hearing, the Supreme Court ordered the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Police Headquarters to release leaders including former ministers Ishwor Pokhrel, Raghuji Pant, Astha Laxmi Shakya, Krishna Gopal Shrestha. Two separate benches comprising justices Ram Prasad Shrestha and Rajendra Prasad Koirala and Badri Kumar Basnet and Kalyan Shrestha have issued the orders.

The court also ordered to release Pashupati Chaulagain, Lal Bahadur Tamang, Gopal Shakya, Dev Raj Ghimire, Purna Prasad Gautam, Dan Bahadur Dangol, Santosh Timalsena, Arun Nepal, Daya Ram Khadka, Bhim Raj Angdambe and Kamal Itani. They were arrested a few days back from a protest rally demanding democracy.

The bench said that their detention was illegal as there was no ground to detain them. Challenging their arrest, Nepal Bar Association and family members of the detainees had filed moved the court. In another development, the Supreme Court ordered the government to produce leaders including Sujata Koirala on April 20 and human rights activists including Kapil Shrestha on April 19.

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