UN welcomes court's ruling on Maina Sunar case

Published On: April 18, 2017 06:15 PM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

KATHMANDU, April 18: The United Nations has welcomed the Kavre District Court's ruling on the murder of Maina Sunar.

Issuing a press statement on Tuesday, UN Office of the Resident Coordinator in Nepal has lauded the verdict as an important step towards ensuring justice to conflict victims.

“This is a significant step towards ensuring victims' rights to justice and providing redress for those who have lost loved ones during the decade-long conflict”, said the statement.

The UN said the ruling will help in ending impunity and strengthening the rule of law.

"The United Nations calls upon the Government, in accordance with Nepali law, to implement the court's ruling without delay, as well as court judgments in all other conflict-era cases”, the statement further said.

On Monday, Kavrepalanchowk District Court slapped life imprisonment on three officers of the then Royal Nepal Army for the murder of Sunar, who was a teenage girl at the time of the Maoist insurgency.

A single bench of Judge Medini Prasad Paudel convicted Bobby Khatri, a colonel at the time, and then captains Sunil Prasad Adhikari and Amit Pun in the murder, and slapped life terms on them.

The bench, however, acquitted Major Niranjan Basnet, stating that the evidence against him was insufficient. Khatri, Adhikari and Pun are no longer in the army.

Sunar, a school girl in Kharelthok VDC-6 of Kavrepalanchowk district, was arrested by the army personnel on February 17, 2004. Following her disappearance, the family and human rights advocates exerted pressure on the government to publicize her whereabouts and it later emerged that she had been murdered.

The judge Paudel opined that it would be appropriate to make the convicted three serve only five years in jail as the crime took place while they were carrying out their work.

"The United Nations counts on the Government to promptly implement the Supreme Court's ruling of February 2015 by amending the Transitional Justice legislation in accordance with the judgment and international standards”, added the UN statement.