The Office of the Attorney General has approached the Supreme Court against the Janakpur High Court's decision to acquit Nepali Congress leader Mohammad Aftab Alam.
On Friday, a case challenging the decision was filed in the Supreme Court through Deputy Attorney General Gopal Prasad Rijal.
The Birgunj bench of the Janakpur High Court, on May 28, acquitted Alam and three others in a case involving allegations of burning injured individuals in a brick kiln following a bomb explosion.
The decision by Justices Khusi Prasad Tharu and Arjun Maharjan drew sharp criticism, and both were summoned to the Supreme Court by the Judicial Council.
“The Office of the Attorney General has approached the Supreme Court saying the high court’s decision is flawed and the Rautahat District Court’s ruling was correct. We sent the file today,” said Joint Attorney Suraj Dahal, spokesperson for the Office of the Attorney General.
Although the case has reached the Supreme Court, it has not been registered yet.
Supreme Court spokesperson and Joint Registrar Achyut Kuinkel said that the case file is yet to be verified.
“The case has arrived, but it is yet to be verified. As we couldn’t do it today, we will verify it on Sunday,” he said.
After the full text of the high court’s verdict was made public, Attorney General Ramesh Badal decided on July 9 to file for a review. The Birgunj High Government Attorney’s Office had also sent the case file for appeal.
NC leader Alam and others were accused of orchestrating a bomb explosion at Pharhadawa in former Rajpur VDC-4, Rautahat, and burning some individuals alive in a brick kiln on the eve of the first Constituent Assembly election in 2008.
On the evening of April 09, 2008, a bomb exploded at around 6:30 p.m. in the shed of Alam’s uncle, Sheikh Idris. A few people in the shed were suspected to have been killed and nearly two dozen others injured in the explosion. Alam was accused of burning the deceased and injured in the furnace of a nearby brick kiln.
During the police investigation, it was found that, under Alam’s instructions, those killed and and injured in the explosion were loaded onto a tractor and burned in a nearby brick kiln to cover up the incident.
