The Birgunj bench of Janakpur High Court has acquitted Nepali Congress leader Mohammad Aftab Alam and three others in the Rautahat blast case.
A division bench of Judges Khusi Prasad Tharu and Arjun Maharjan acquitted the four on Wednesday.
The Rautahat District Court had previously convicted them in connection with the Rajpur bomb explosion and subsequent killings.
According to Deepak Bhandari, registrar of the Birgunj bench of Janakpur High Court, Alam and three others have been acquitted.
"Since the charges could not be established, the high court overturned the district court's verdict and acquitted them," Bhandari said. "Mohammad Aftab Alam, Mohammad Mahtab Alam, Sheikh Seraj (also known as Sheikh Siraj), and Badri Sahani have been acquitted."
They were accused of burning people alive in a brick kiln. On April 25 last year, the Rautahat District Court had sentenced Mohammad Aftab Alam, his brother Mohammad Mahtab Alam, and the other two to life imprisonment in the case. However, another accused, Mukti Sah, was acquitted.
Background of the case
Two persons were killed and over a dozen injured in a bomb explosion at Pharhadawa of Rautahat on April 9, 2008, before the first Constituent Assembly (CA) election. Most of the injured persons were Indians and all of them suddenly disappeared a few days after the incident.
Families of two of the missing Nepali citizens complained with the police some time later claiming that the explosion occurred while making bombs to help Alam win the election and Alam burned 11 injured persons in the furnace of a nearby brick factory alive to cover up the incident.
Police sat on the complaint filed by Sheikh Ruksana Khatun and Shree Narayan Singh, and Alam won the CA election.
Police later secretly investigated the case and found that Alam had hired Indians from across the border to make bombs to capture polling stations, and the villagers corroborated the claims of complainants.
Alam went to Rautahat Police on June 23, 2008, after being summoned and the police prepared a case against Alam and his five cadres. But the case was never filed after the Office of the Attorney General instructed the District Government Attorney's Office to that regard on July 14, 2008.
Khatun and Singh moved the Supreme Court (SC) against Alam and the decision of the District Government Attorney's Office, even as Alam became labor and transportation minister in the Madhav Kumar Nepal government in 2009.
A joint bench of the then SC justices Sushila Karki and Bharat Bahadur Karki, hearing the petition filed by Khatun and Singh, ordered the arrest of the defendants and investigation on the matter, but the order was not executed.
"Some evidence of the incident seems to exist on the basis of the complaints identifying the perpetrators; recovery of sweater, high-neck, black socks, and black shoes of Osi Akhtar Miya at the site of incident; statement of Sarjul Miya; and field reports of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Nepal Bar Association (NBA), and other human rights organization," the Karki duo ruled.
Khatun and Singh then complained with the Judgement Execution Directorate, which again ordered Alam's arrest. But powerful Alam, who could even get officers he wanted deployed as Rautahat Police chief, was again not arrested.
Khatun was murdered in the meantime and other victims of the incident also could not speak after that.
An SC order in June 2019 led to the arrest of Alam on October 13, 2019.
A joint bench of Justices Anil Sinha and Kumar Regmi had ordered the Office of the Attorney General to submit a report about progress on investigation of the incident and current situation within 30 days.
Advocate Pushpa Raj Paudel had moved the SC making the Office of the Attorney General defendant as that order was not enforced. The bench of Sinha and Regmi, hearing that petition on June 21, had ordered the Office of the Attorney General to that regard, and also reminded the office that it was both its duty and right to implement the court order.
"Who were appointed investigating officers during which period in the complaint filed by Shree Narayan Singh and Ruksana Khatun as per that order, and how has the investigation moved forward? What are the works that have been completed till now? What are the reasons for failure to complete investigation in the past seven years? Do investigate about these questions and coordinate with other relevant bodies for information, and submit a confidential report to this court including detailed periodic details of all the works done until now within 30 days of receiving this order," the bench had ordered. It had also ordered the office to send monthly updates until the court order is implemented.
The Office of Attorney General would have been held in contempt of court for failing to submit the progress report as demanded by the court.
