Writ seeking Prachanda’s trial in mass murder case filed in the Supreme Court

Defying pressure from the top leadership of the Party, more than a dozen Nepali congress activists, most of them victims of Maoist atrocities including murder and torture during the insurgency era, filed criminal case against Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, in the supreme court on Tuesday.

Gyanendra Aaran and others filed two sets of petitions seeking Prachanda’s trial in the mass murder and return of their property confiscated by the Maoists during the decade-long conflict.

Jana Kumar Koirala, one of the victims appeared in the supreme court and filed the writ petitions as per the ruling given by a division bench of the Supreme Court consisting of justice Ishwar Khatiwada and Hari Prasad Phuyal on Friday.

The petition filed today will be heard on March 9, Thursday.

The move by the congress activists has not only brought different splinter groups, once together in the Maoist Party against the move to ‘criminalise’ them and their politics, but has also made the Nepali Congress-Maoist equation more vulnerable.

The activists refused to give up their move despite Party Chief Sher Bahadur Deuba asking them for it in the light of the current understanding between the two political parties. The activists are believed to have told Deuba that they wanted justice at any cost and their only hope was the Supreme Court.

The admission of the writ by the supreme court is bound to make Prachanda’s continuation as the Prime Minister difficult.