Rastriya Janata Party Nepal (RJP) lawmaker from Kailali-1 Resham Chaudhary, the main accused of Tikapur incident, has been sworn in as House of Representatives (HoR) member on Thursday.
HoR Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara administered oath of office and secrecy to Chaudhary in Tharu language at his office at three in the afternoon. Mahara put garland on Chaudhary after administering oath. Members of the chairman council of RJP, who were present during the swearing in ceremony, also put garlands on Chaudhary.
Chaudhary was brought in from the Dilli Bazar Jail for the ceremony and the police took him back to the prison after its completion.
Chaudhary will continue to remain in judicial custody and not be allowed to attend the House meeting. "A charge sheet in criminal case showing moral abasement which deserves sentence of more than three years has been filed against him," Secretary at the HoR Gopal Nath Yogi told Setopati. "He will not be allowed to do any function or exercise the rights of HoR member when he is in judicial custody."
Secretary Yogi revealed that Chaudhary will also not get the remuneration and other perks and benefits provided for HoR members.
RJP had been putting pressure on the government to get Chaudhary sworn in and its leaders had raised the issue while meeting Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli on December 25.
Fugitive Chaudhary had surrendered before the Kailali District Court on February 26. He was in the most wanted list of the police.
Chaudhary had lodged the candidacy for federal parliament through an agent. He had won the election by a margin of around 19,000 votes securing 34,341 votes.
The government has filed a case against Chaudhary in the Kaliali District Court considering him to be one of the main accused of the Tikpaur incident in which seven police personnel including an SSP of Nepal Police and a toddler were lynched on August 24, 2015.
The Supreme Court (SC) in December, 2017 had refused to register a writ petition he tried to file through an agent on his behalf demanding he be released on date.
The single bench of Justice Tanka Moktan had ordered Chaudhary to seek legal remedy through the court if he were innocent when he again moved the SC against the administration's decision to not register his petition.
"The applicant must get acquittal through a legal process of the court if he were not guilty and the charges against him were false," the bench has said. "Knowingly allowing an accused a means of receiving the facilities and rights provided by the state by evading or defying the court process will promote impunity in the country," the bench has said.
