Bal Krishna Dhungel who was convicted by the supreme court of Nepal for Human Rights Abuse for the 1998 murder of Ujjan Kumar Shrestha of Okhaldhunga and ordered life term with confiscation of property has been released. On the Republic Day, the government decided to condone former lawmaker of the then CPN Maoist-Centre Dhungel was released from Dillibazar jail on Tuesday.
The Okhaldhunga District Court in 2004 had convicted Dhungel for the murder of Shrestha and sentenced his to life imprisonment, but in 2006, the Rajbiraj Appellate Court gave him a clean chit. The apex court in 2010 overturned Rajbiraj Appellate Court’s decision and upheld Okhaldhunga District Court’s verdict.
Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) had arrested Dhungel from Satdobato in Lalitpur last October and presented him before Kathmandu District Court in Babarmahal. The court had sentenced him to Dillibazaar prisonfor 12 years 5 months and 22 days.
The decision of the President of Nepal has been hugely criticized by general public and has been questioned in terms of Human Rights values and governance.
