SC orders govt to furnish commission's recommendation against army chief

The Supreme Court (SC) has ordered the government to produce the recommendation report by the high-level judicial probe commission led by former SC justice Krishna Jung Raymajhi to take action against Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) Pyar Jung Thapa ekantipur reports .

A single bench of SC Justice Kalyan Shrestha issued the order Friday afternoon following a hearing on a case filed at the Apex Court demanding the suspension of CoAS Thapa, Acting Armed Police Force (APF) IGP Basudev Oli and DIG Dilip Kumar Shrestha.

Last Tuesday, four lawyers representing the Human Rights Organisation Nepal had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) at the SC seeking a court order to the government to suspend army chief Thapa, acting APF chief Oli and DIG Shrestha.

In the PIL writ, the lawyers have argued that though the government (following the Rayamajhi Commission's recommendation) suspended the then Nepal Police and APF IGPs, it didn't take any action against Thapa, Oli and Shrestha.

The lawyers claimed that Thapa, Oli and Shrestha, too, were responsible for suppressing the recent popular movement and were guilty of human rights violations.

"If they are not suspended immediately, they may tamper with the evidence needed by the High-level Probe Commission. Therefore, the court should order the government to suspend them," the lawyers argued in the petition.

Soon after its formation, the Raymajhi Commission had recommended the government to suspend all security chiefs, including army chief Thapa. Following the commission's recommendation, the government had suspended the then Nepal Police IGP, Shyam Bhakta Thapa and then APF IGP Sahabir Thapa but no action was taken against the army chief.