The joint bench of Supreme Court Judges Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada and Hariprasad Phuyal, sitting on 3 March 2023, overruled the earlier decision of not to register the writ petition against Dahal’s statement and ordered the court administration to register the same writ petition.
Prime Minister Dahal gave a statement where he said he takes the responsibility for 5,000 of the 17,000 people who were killed during the conflict in an open forum held on the occasion of Maghi on 15 January 2020.
Advocates Kalyan Budhathoki and Gyanendraraj Aran filed a writ at the Supreme Court against Dahal’s statement, demanding an order to investigate and take action against Dahal for criminal charges.
The Supreme Court administration on 10 November 2022 dismissed the petition saying that the petition submitted based on an expression of political nature cannot be registered.
Advocates Aran and Budhathoki filed another petition in the Supreme Court against the order of the court administration. While hearing the same petition, the bench of Judge Khatiwada and Phuyal ordered the registration of the petition.
Advocate Aran said that Dahal’s open statement was like rubbing salt in the wounds of the conflict victims, and the order of the Supreme Court provides a sense of justice to the victims.
Aran mentioned that according to the court’s order, they will register the writ application on 5 March