Charles Sobhraj freed but still in jail for an extra night
Charles Sobhraj will be spending one more night in central Jail, Sundhara not as a prisoner but as its guest. Sobhraj was released by the jail authorities around 6.30 pm, a day after the Supreme Court ordered his release and deportation to his home country Frame but he was accepted as the guest in the jail at the request of his lawyers.
Sobhraj would be taken to immigration office tomorrow morning and on completion of all paper works he would most likely be taken straight to the International airport in Kathmandu for his final destination to France.
The government authorities, on recommendation of the medical team and legal counselor, apparently made a mind not to give him any space for mischief and decided to pack him off to Paris at the earliest possible time.
Sobhraj has stressed his wish to spend time with the family including his wife Nihita Biswas before his deportation. But his lawyer Gopal Sibakoti’s statement on Thursday that he would be suing the Nepal government for compensation against what he said his illegal imprisonment alarm the government.
It then started deportation issues at war footing with concerned agencies of the state working in full coordination.
In the evening (Thursday) jail authority was setting him free but it seems that he was not by then mentally decided where to go. His lawyers requested the jail authorities to host him for an extra night prior to his presentation at the immigration office tomorrow.
The Supreme Court Wednesday 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 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 days”.
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.