Supreme Court refuses to register writ against ordinance*

KATHMANDU: The Supreme Court has refused to register a writ petition against an ordinance that the government brought on Sunday to withdraw pending criminal cases against leaders and cadres of different political groups.

The writ petitioners, including Advocate Kapildev Dhakal, had made Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers defendants in the case.

The ordinance has added a sub-clause in Section 116 of the National Criminal Procedures Act which has provisions relating to withdrawal, compromise and mediation of cases.

“Irrespective of what is written in this section, if any political party or group conducted violent activities disagreeing with the existing political system of the country but shows commitment to carry out peaceful political activities under the constitution and prevailing laws of Nepal to come to the mainstream of peaceful politics, or there is an agreement of a political nature to withdraw the cases filed by the government, there will be no hindrance to withdraw cases filed against the leaders and activists of such political parties and groups pending in any courts in Nepal,” the sub-section added in the ordinance reads.

*CORRECTED:
This news has been corrected to remove a factual error. – Editor