Recommendation to President to give general amnesty to Chaudhary

The government has recommended to President Ramchandra Paudel to give general amnesty to Resham Chaudhary, a leader of the Nagarik Unmukti Party.

A meeting of the Council of Ministers held at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers at Singha Durbar made a decision, recommending general amnesty and exoneration of prison sentence to leader Chaudhary among the individuals serving imprisonment.

Informing the media about Cabinet meeting decisions, Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma said a recommendation has been made to give general amnesty along with remission of the remaining prison term of leader Chaudhary on the occasion of the Republic Day.

"It is Republic Day on Monday and in this context, a decision has been made to pardon the remaining prison term of some inmates and to do as per the tradition in case of those inmates who have already spent 50 per cent of their imprisonment. Today's main decision is to recommend to the Office of the President, based on Resham Chaudhary's application and also addressing some of the topics mentioned by the Office of the President," said Minister Sharma, who is also the government spokesperson.

The Nagarik Unmukti Party leader Chaudhary would walk out of prison in case the Office of the President decides as per the recommendation of the government.

Chaudhary was imprisoned after he was convicted of his involvement in an incident of violence that broke out in the course of the Tharuhat Tharuwan Movement in Tikapur, Kailali on August 24, 2015, in which seven security personnel including Nepal Police senior superintendent Laxman Neupane and a minor were killed.

The District Court, Kailali, the High Court, Dipayal and the Supreme Court had all sentenced Chaudhary to life imprisonment.

Minister Sharma said preparation for Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal's official visit to India has reached the final phase and a meeting of the Council of Ministers on Monday will finalize the agenda of the visit.

Responding to the journalist's question, the government spokesperson said, "Who will be going together with the Prime Minister on his India visit has not been finalized till now. The ministries have been preparing the agenda for the visit and that has reached the final stage. There is the topic of borders along with those related to energy. Discussions are in progress on these issues. However, no formal decision has been made."