SC Orders Release of 37 Leaders

Kathmandu, Feb 17- The government released 37 political detainees, including senior left wing leaders, on Friday after the Supreme Court (SC) ordered for their release. The leaders who were arrested from demonstrations on various dates were produced at the SC today following its order for the same.

The released leaders include the CPN-UML leaders Raghuji Panta, Pradeep Gyanwali and Gokarna Bista, Nepal Sadbhawana Party’s Bharat Bimal Yadav among others.

A divisional bench of justice Rajendra Prasad Koirala took the decision while responding to the habeas corpus plea filed for the release of the leaders. There were no logical grounds for the detention of the leaders, said the court ruling.

However,In separate cases filed for the release of Nepali Congress leaders, the apex court, only issued a show cause notice to the government. A bench of justice Gauri Dhakal issued the order while responding to the habeas corpus pleas filed for the release of some 50 Nepali Congress leaders.Law practitioners have expressed surprise at the SC decision, as the apex court had ordered the government to produce detained leaders at the court in other similar cases.

Meanwhile, a habeas corpus plea was filed at the SC today, demanding for the release of the UML leader Bharat Mohan Adhikary. The plea filed at the initiative of the Nepal Bar Association argued that Adhikary was illegally detained by the government.