Plea against King rejected

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to admit a contempt of court petition that had named King Gyanendra and army officials as defendants.

The petitioner, advocate Jit Man Basnet, was trying to lodge had named the King as a defendant as he was the Supreme Commander in Chief of the Army, charging the army with deceiving the court in the case related to those missing in military detentions.

The apex court quashed the writ on the ground that the petitioner had not made the King as defendant in an earlier habeas corpus petition while he was detained.

The SC said that the lawyer has not been able to justify reasons for filing the contempt of court petition.

The writ also named then Chief of the Army Staff General Pyar Jung Thapa, Chief of the battalion Raju Basnet, Brigadier General BA Kumar Sharma, then Spokesperson of the Nepal Army Dipak Gurung and Major Bibek Bista as defendants in the case