Withdrawing cases

The government has withdrawn nearly 300 cases against various individuals and groups. The cabinet decision in this connection said that the prosecutions brought against the defendants were politically motivated. Of the 286 cases withdrawn, 200 involved murders and the rest were related to arson. News reports say that the government is trying to withdraw some more criminal cases and a proposal in this regard has already been forwarded to the cabinet for its approval. This is not the first time that political parties in government have withdrawn cases of a criminal nature. The then Maoist-led government had taken back cases filed against nearly 700 individuals, most of them Maoist cadres.



Case withdrawals are problematic for a variety of reasons. First, there is a standing stay order from the Supreme Court against the withdrawal of any criminal case. Issuing its ruling in response to a writ filed by Advocate Madhav Basnet to stay the Maoist-led government´s decision to withdraw the cases against the 700 individuals, the apex court had ordered the government not to withdraw any criminal case until it issued a further ruling. The government´s current decision, therefore, violates a Supreme Court injunction. Second, the government is withdrawing the cases under pressure from various political parties which are only interested in the release of their cadres and sympathizers irrespective of their criminality. Third, when the government goes about withdrawing cases on the ground that they are "politically motivated", it is in effect acknowledging that the state does files cases against its own citizens on false grounds, including some which are as serious as murder. If that is true the state should apologize for bringing the false accusations and duly compensate the victims for subjecting them to harassment.



This is not just a blatant case of the government flouting a Supreme Court order but also an example of how criminals get away with their misdeeds simply because they have the political connections. The government has misused a legal provision that authorizes it to withdraw criminal cases. The legal provision was never meant to allow the government to set criminals scot-free. This insensitive decision only aggravates the state of impunity in this country. When the government withdraws criminal cases knowingly, on what moral ground will it pursue the cases of human rights abuse that occurred during the insurgency? Human rights violators on either side of the conflict-- the security agencies and the Maoist combatants-- can easily argue that they were just obeying orders from their superiors. We urge the government to reconsider its decision forthwith.

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