Kathmandu, 8 Dec 2014: The Advocacy Forum has expressed its concern over the court’s verdict of less severe penalty to the guilty of journalist Dekendra Raj Thapa’a murder, a press release stated.
The District Court, Dailekh, pronouncing its verdict on Sunday, prosecuted the culprit Laxmiram Gharti under the murder case.
Lawyers, on the behalf of the Forum, too had advocated in the court.
According to a press statement released by Mandira Sharma, the Chairperson of the Forum, Gharti along with other alleged had earlier given their statement admitting their involvement in murdering the journalist Thapa.
They even confessed to helping the main culprit Gharti in burying the dead body of the journalist.
The release further shows its concern stating that although a life imprisonment with confiscation of all his property was demanded against the culprit, the less severe punishment for such a heinous crime shows that the real victims are still denied the access to justice.
Lawyers arguing the case from the side of the plaintiff had demanded that the accused should be convicted under the murder column of the General Code citing the transitional legal arrangements could not displace the regular law.
However, the Forum concluded that the verdict was positive regarding having legal action taken in connection with such incidents.
Source:RSS