Kathmandu district court rejects govt decision to withdraw Rishi Dhamala’s case

The Kathmandu District Court (KDC) has rejected the cabinet decision to withdraw charges against president of Reporters Club Rishi Dhamala and two other journalists on Friday.

Stepping on a precedent set by the Supreme Court that subjudice cases cannot be withdrawn partially, a single bench of Shekhar Poudel of the KDC declared the cabinet decision was unacceptable.

A cabinet meeting on September 20 had decided to withdraw charges against Dhamala, Ram Suvak Mahato and Birendra KM. However, the cabinet had not decided anything about the charges against the fourth person Manoj Mahato on the same case.

Mahato and KM, who were brought to the court Friday for hearing, were taken back to the detention centre in Dillibazaar after the court refused to free them. Whether to allow the withdrawal of the case or not will be decided when the government revises its decision, the court said.

According to existing provisions, a subjudice case can be withdrawn only after the approval of the court hearing the case.

Dhamala was arrested on February 3 from his office in Putalisadak for his alleged connection with Ranavir Sena, which was involved in various criminal activities including bomb explosions, extortions, kidnapping and murders. He was later freed on bail.

His case was withdrawn on September 20, one day before Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal left for New York, USA, leading the Nepali delegation to the 164^th UN General Assembly. Dhamala was also part of the delegation.

Sources say, the very reason for withdrawing Dhamala's case was to enable him to go to the US. The cabinet had taken the decision under pressure from foreign minister Sujata Koirala. Dhamala is known to have close ties with Koirala.

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