The spokesperson of the President’s Office, Shailaja Regmi Bhattarai, issued a statement, on May 28, 2023, informing that on Republic Day, President Ram Chandra Poudel pardoned 501 individuals guilty of the crime that occurred on August 24, 2015, during the Tharuhat movement at Tikapur, Kailai.
The pardoned individuals were guilty of death of Nepal Police SSP Laxman Neupane, Police Inspector Balram Bista and Keshav Bohra, Constable Shyam Bahadur Khadka, Police Constable Lokendra Bahadur Chand, Armed Police Senior Constable Lalit Saud, Assistant Constable Ram Bihari Chaudhary, Police Constable Janak Negi and a child, during the incident.
A single bench of Kailali District Court judge Parashuram Bhattarai sentenced Reshamlal Choudhary to life imprisonment on February 24 2019. The joint bench of Judge Teknarayan Kuvan and Sitaram Mandal of the High Court Dipayal affirmed the decison, on December 17, 2020. The Supreme Court’s joint bench of Judges Anand Mohan Bhattarai and Nahkul Subedi affirmed the sentence provided by District Court Kailali and High Court Dipayal, on May 16, 2023.
The government submitted 20 files to the legal branch of the Office of the President to seek remission of Chaudhary’s sentence. The Office of the President sent back the file and requested the government to fulfill the procedural aspect of the request. The Council of Ministers, for the second time decided to recommend Chaudary and other associated individuals for amnesty on May 28, 2023.
Chairperson of INSEC, Dr. Kundan Aryal, issued a statement on May 28, demanding the government refrain from condoning impunity by pardoning the perpetrators of heinous human rights violations.