Court scraps cases against THT, Kantipur

The Kathmandu District Court quashed defamation cases against two leading dailies — The Himalayan Times and Kantipur — filed by sacked judge Kedar Prasad Pyakurel.Stating that the defamation charge against THT and Kantipur were baseless, the KDC scrapped the cases. A single bench of judge Tej Bahadur Karki looked into the case against THT, while a separate single bench of judge Sushma Lata Mathema heard the case against Kantipur.The benches stated that the cases were baseless and the plaintiff could not justifyhis claim.Advocates Krishna Prasad Pokhrel, Yogendra Adhikari and Ananta Raj Luitel, who is also a senior correspondent with THT, pleaded on behalf of THT. Advocate Ram Krishna Nirala defended Kantipur while Pyakurel himself argued before the benches in both cases.Saying that the contents of news about his sacking by King Gyanendra on March 17, 2006, were defamatory, Pyakurel had sued Managing Director of APCA House Ravin Lama, editor of THT Ram Pradhan and senior correspondent Luitel.Pyakurel had filed a similar case against the management and journalist of KantipurPublications.The king, on the recommendation of Judicial Council, had sacked Puakurel, Ganesh Panjiyar and Chitra Dev Joshi from their posts as judges on the charge of incompetence.The Council had recommended the king to sack them for tarnishing the image of the judiciary, following an investigation into their alleged involvement in irregularities.