Suspended Top Cops Attend Duty

Four senior Nepal Police officials, including its chief, who were suspended by the government for "their suspicious role" during Jana Andolan II, on Friday joined their service by signing on the attendence book at the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The government, on May 12, had suspended Inspector General of Nepal Police Shyam Bhakta Thapa, AIGPs Rajendra Bahadur Singh, Rup Sagar Moktan and Krishna Basnet

IG of the Armed Police Force Sahabir Thapa, APF-AIG Rabiraj Thapa and APF-Senior Superintendents Durja Kumar Rai and Madhab Thapa, who were suspended on the same charges, are yet to join their duties because their suspension term is yet to end.

Meanwhile, Khul Bahadur Kunwar, 46, and Yagya Bahadur KC, 40 lost their jobs and served four years and seven years in jail respectively, after the Special Police Court found them guilty of stealing two revolvers from the Arsenal of the then Mid-Regional Police Training Centre, Maharajgunj, which they were guarding, when the weapons went missing.

After serving 15 years, in 2003, one Ghanashyam Adhikari, a former policeman, approached them separately and revealed the fact that it was he who had stolen the revolvers from the Arsenal they were guarding and said sorry for whatever they had to undergo due to his action. He also submitted a revolver he had stolen to the police.

Police arrested Adhikari the same year and the Special Police Court found him guilty of stealing the revolvers. Now, Adhikari is serving a jail term of four years for the crime he committed 15 years ago.

After knowing that the court has found Adhikari guilty of stealing the revolvers, the two disgraced policemen took up a legal battle to win their lost glory, the same year.

Kunwar and KC appealed to the Regional Police Special Court (RPSC), Patan, demanding an order to the Nepal Police to reinstate their jobs and provide them with due compensation.

At the backdrop of Adhikari owning the crime and same Court convicting him on the charge, Kunwar and KC appealed to the Regional Police Special Court (RPSC), Patan, demanding a order to Police Organisation for reinstatement of their job and compensation in 2003.

Responding to the petition, the RPSC had asked the then Kathmandu District Police Office (KDPO) — now called Metropolitan Police Range (MPR), Hanumandhoka, to clarify the court about the issue and the claim made by the two policemen. The KDPO, however, didn't furnish any reply saying it has no records dating back to 1988.

The two policemen, with help of Centre for Victims of Torture (CEVICT), came to the Metropolitan Police Range to pressurise the police officials to reply at the earliest to the RPSC.Sharad Oli, Deputy Superintendent of Police at the MPR, said they have already replied to the Court saying they don't have any record of the case.

"We can help them if the Court orders formation of an investigation committee and proceed the case," he said. Kunwar and KC said all they wanted was justice. "We want justice," they echoed.
The CEVICT, meanwhile, has said that the duo were extremely tortured and made to confess to the crime they never committed and that it has filed a complaint at the National Human Rights Commission demanding action against the police personnel who tortured them.