CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli has claimed that there is no reason to file a case against Resham Chaudhary.
Addressing an election rally in Chaudhary’s home district Kailali on Thursday Oli claimed that Chaudhary was tried even though he was not in Kailali at the time of incident hinting that Maoist leaders have not been jailed despite thousands being killed during the Maoist insurgency.
“Tharu leaders from here are in jail. Thousands died but people didn’t have to be jailed. They filed case against a man who was not even here. Resham Chaudhary was not here at that time. There was no reason to try him,” Oli reasoned.
Chaudhary is one of the main accused of the Tikapur incident in which eight police personnel including an SSP of Nepal Police and a toddler were lynched on August 24, 2015.
The Kailali District Court had slapped life sentence on Chaudhary over the Tikapur incident and the Dipayal High Court endorsed the life sentence. The case is currently sub judice at the Supreme Court (SC).
Chaudhary has been at Dilli Bazar Jail after surrendering before the Kailali District Court on February 26, 2018.
Oli pointed at the six-point agreement his government signed with the Tharuhat/Tharuwan Struggle Committee on June 1, 2021 and added that the agreement has not been implemented by the current government.
The first point of the agreement stated that the government will take initiative in accordance to the Constitution and laws for withdrawal of case about the Tikapur incident and release of Dhaniram Chaudhary, Resham Chaudhary, Laxman Chaudhary and others. The government had also agreed to provide education up to primary level in Tharu language at the areas dominated by Tharus.
Oli’s remarks today is against the official statement issued by UML led by him five years ago when the coalition government of Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN (Maoist Center) decided to withdraw the case against Resham Chaudhary.
The then secretary of the party’s secretariat Pradeep Gyawali on May 19, 2017 had issued a statement slamming the government for trying to acquit those involved in a criminal incident by providing political cover. “The party draws serious attention of the government to immediately withdraw the decision and bring the guilty to book through impartial investigation of the incident,” the statement read.
Chaudhary has been at Dilli Bazar Jail after surrendering before the Kailali District Court on February 26, 2018.
He was sworn in as House of Representatives (HoR) member on January 3, 2019 even as the case was sub judice in the district court. He remained in judicial custody and was not allowed to attend the House meeting even after being sworn in. He lost the post of lawmaker after the district court gave life sentence.
Chaudhary, who was absconding after the Kailali killings, had surrendered before the Kailali District Court on February 26, 2018. Chaudhary had lodged the candidacy for federal parliament from Kailali-1 on Rastriya Janata Party ticket through an agent. He had won the election by a margin of around 19,000 votes securing 34,341 votes.
The government had filed a case against Chaudhary in the Kaliali District Court considering him to be one of the main accused of the Tikpaur incident. 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 had 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 had said.
The Kailali District Court then had slapped life sentence on him and the Dipayal High Court had endorsed the district court verdict.
