By Om Tat Sat,
The Supreme Court of Nepal, issued another signal for potential wannabe power players. The chief justice of Nepal’s Supreme Court, just released a former D.I.G. spending his time in prison for the pre-meditated murder of his wife. The reason cited was the need for a father figure for his children, who are already in colleges. Where in the world can we find such humane court system?
Republica daily cites the great humanitarian nature of Nepal’s court:
Citing Section 188 of the previous Muluki Ain and Section 17(1) of the existing Sentence Determination and Execution Act, 2017, the apex court stated that the objective to punish Koirala had already been met and that there was no need to put him in jail any longer as he needed to give guardianship to his sons following the death of their mother Geeta.
So, the great chief justice showed his compassion by citing even the law that is no longer in force, the Muliki Ain. Such unique sense of justice could only be borne in a land inhabited by godly forces, and nurtured by thousands of rishi munis. The only other reason that could be somewhat related to this case is perhaps the friendship they enjoyed before. A policemen of top rank and with a good networking could certainly be sent to prison for life. That was in itself a great message sent to the public. It is sort of a revolutionary decision. So, following the logic of our great justice in charge, once the lessons have been learnt, jail is not really necessary. Beat that Robert Barr! Do you think you are the only one who can dance with the lady justice?
This unprecedented decision of the SC of Nepal has spurred other great effort and highlighted other groups and people that play great roles in Nepal. On Friday, a group of activists came out on the street to protest such a humanitarian decision. After the release of the convicted murderer DIG on Thursday, they were quick to mobilize and demonstrate against such a noble act. We need to raise a pertinent question: Do these people even have a heart? Do they not have families?
Same can be said of the Office of the Attorney General (OAG), who filed a review petition at the apex court, “stating that the verdict violated the principle of justice laid down in various similar cases in the past.” This is just a mindset of old and outdated thinking. They would have done better by taking the hint and start identifying all similar cases and release those in prison so that their families could also experience a sense of the great humanitarian justice system of Nepal.
Now the freed murderer can restart his life. His other woman, with whom he was having an extra-marital affair and was also jailed for six-months for her part, can now start a new family. She was there to receive him outside the jail. They were living together when the murder was planned. So, they are lucky to get a second chance in life. Life could be even better and the government would receive even more kudos if the property that was confiscated will also be returned to the loving couple. He would have been in jail for 11.5 more years to complete his sentence. Now, thanks to the greatness of SV child justice, those years can be put into more fruitful use, instead of freeloading in prison.
The lesson from this innovative justice system could have even greater consequences. Now, all the power player and global wealthy elites can mark Nepal as their favorite destination for vacation and investment. Is there any human in this world who would not like to be given a free pass for all their illegal activities and crimes?
Nepal has been of interest to the U.S.in its strategy against its big neighbor China. As we have witnessed MCC take center stage in Nepal, we can hope that the interest does not wane. Whatever damage has been done by the street protest against MCC can now be compensated by the free “Get out of jail” card system Nepal is adopting for the rich and the powerful.
God bless SC justice Cholendra Rana. God bless Former DIG convicted-murderer Ranjan Koirala. God bless sacred land Nepal—secular, democratic, federal republic of Nepal.
The writer is a graduate of Arizona State University in Political Science. He is working as a social activist and motivational speaker for students across Nepal since 2007. He also blogs at Strong Blog.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necesarily reflect the official policy or position of Nepalisite.
