Murder convict Charles Sobhraj, a free man again

The Supreme Court has ordered release of serial killer Charles Sobhraj with instruction to the government to send him back France, his own country, within 15 days.

The order was issued Wednesday by a division bench of justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Til Prasad Shrestha. The bench said, “If it is not necessary to imprison him for other cases, he needs to be released and arrangement made to send him back to him home within 15 dyas”.

The court said 78 year old Shobhraj was under medication for heart disease and has already  served 75 percent of the life term—20 years — So, it is not reasonable to keep him in prison from the viewpoints of constitutional and legal rights along with human rights of prisoners.

Shobraj, a notorious  criminal known as serial bikini killer was arrested in Kathmandu in 2003. A case of murder of US citizen Jo Bronzich in 1975 in Kathmandu in which Shobhraj was a suspect was reopened and  investigated. The Bhaktapur district court convicted him for murder in 2003 and subsequently, the appellate court also upheld the life term.