The case was filed on June 15 by Abhishek Giri who was attacked on June 1. Morang District Court had not registered the case until Wednesday. [break]
Following registration of the case, a bench of judge Indra Bahadur Karki issued a directive to fetch Giri from judicial custody to sign the case document.
According to sub-clause 1 of clause 18 of the Judicial Administration Act, anyone found guilty of contempt of court is required to pay a fine of Rs 1,000, or serve a prison term of a month, or both.
The court itself could have filed a case against people involved in obstructing the functioning of the court. Voices had been raised that this should have been the case.
Court administrator Bhisma Prasain said the case lodged by Giri was not registered in the past as it was a minor case. "As two other cases had been filed against the same individuals, we felt it was unnecessary to pursue this case," he said. "Though late, the case has come under due process," he added.
Giri had filed a case against 23 people, including chief of MorangYouth Force Parshuram Basnet, and Mukesh Budathoki.
On December 15, Biratnagar Appellate Court released the court attack accused who also face a case of attempting to murder Giri.
After learning that the contempt of court case had not been registered, chief judge of Biratnagar Appellate Court Gopal Prasad Parajuli ordered Prasain to accept the case. Prasain said contempt of court cases can be registered any time as it is the court itself that determines how such cases move ahead.
"On the day the incident occurred, we sent a letter to the police to initiate legal procedures," said Prasain. "The case was kept waiting as we thought it was unnecessary to take two paths for the same case," he added.
A source said that following a news report in our sister daily Nagarik about accused being freed one after another by the Biratnagar Appellate Court, discussions were held at the court as well as at the Morang District Court. "The discussions led to the conclusion that the contempt of court case should be pursued," the source said.
Murder, kidnapping accused being freed
A number of accused kept in judicial custody or sent to jail by the Morang District Court are being released by Biratnagar Appellate Court. In the first six months of the ongoing fiscal year, 13 accused were released by the court. Of them, four are cases of murder and attempted murder, while two are kidnapping cases.
As a case in point, Nepali Congress worker Azam Pervez Miya, accused in the August 13 kidnapping of Khaman Singh Bohara of Biratnagar-12, was released by the Appellate Court on December 2, though the District Court had found him guilty and sent him to prison on September 27.
The December 15 order of the Appellate Court to release those accused in the attempted murder case against Giri is another case in point.
However, in several other cases of the same nature, the Appellate Court has also been upholding the orders of District Court.
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