JUDGES RECOMMENDED TO SPECIAL COUT Kathmandu, 23 Jan.: The judicial council (JC) Tuesday nominated three judges for the Special Court to probe corruption cases. The decision was taken by a meeting chaired by Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi this evening took the decision to the effect. Judges Kedar Prasad Chalise, Mohan Raman Bhattarai and Bhupendra Raiwere nominated judges. Nnnn POLICE, LOCALS CLASH IN PYUTHAN Kathmandu, 23 Jan.:: Locals and police fought at Puja Liwase in Pyuthan district over a murder case on Tuesday, RSS reports from Pyuthan.. The clashes ensued after locals tried to gherao the Area Police Office demanding law and order. Police ‘lathi charged’ three people, said a local Bharatmani Neupane. The people also organised a protest assembly on the Police Post premises by breaking the barriers saying there was suppression in peaceful agitation. Locals tried to picket the police office saying police made lax investigation and committed negligence in the murder case of a local Bigyan KC while he was coming to Thulabesi at Khung- 4 from Aglungfedi Bazaar of Gulmi on December 17. Villagers were angered from the orders of the District Court release on bail to Ramesh Malla who is a brother by relation and was accused of murder, and were demanding re- investigation of the case. The court had ordered a bail of Rs. 50,000 to Malla who was in custody for 24 days for investigation. Nnnn PM RECEIVES SUPREME COURT NOTICE Kathmandu, 23 Jan.:Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai today [Tuesday] received Supreme Court notice on contempt charges that directs him and Attorney General Mukti Narayan Pradhan to attend the apex court within seven days after receiving the court’s order, The Himalayan Times writes.. “After serious efforts, the Office of the Prime Minister and Council Ministers (OPMCM) today received the court’s notice,” Gopal Neupane, chief notice server, SC, told The Himalayan Times. Neupane had returned from Singha Durbar after officials of the OPMCM declined to receive the notice. “The OPMCM received the notice and has promptly assigned legal officers to prepare written explanation with the coordination of government attorneys,” a source at the OPMCM told THT. “Now they will go to the Supreme Court within the deadline,” he added. Attorney General Pradhan had received the notice yesterday and immediately assigned Joint Government Attorney Dharma Paudel to prepare the written explanation of the AG so that he would meet the deadline. On January 18, a single bench of Justice Sushila Karki summoned both the prime minister and attorney general to be present in the Supreme Court to face contempt charges against them as to why they attempted in the obstruction of due process of investigation in the murder of Dailkeh-based journalist Dekendra Thapa. Earlier, advocate Kamal Prasad Itani and journalist Santosh Neupane representing the Democratic Lawyers’ Association and Nepal Press Union respectively had filed an application in the Supreme Court charging the PM and the AG of obstructing the judicial process and misusing their authority against the investigation and prosecution of journalist Thapa’s murder accused. A convict may face up to one year jail sentence and a fine of up to Rs 10,000 or both, but the court can also pardon the sentence if the convict could satisfy the court of not repeating the same offence again as per Section 7 of the Supreme Court Act, 1991. Prime Minister Bhattarai has been facing multiple contempt charges while for Pradhan it is the first time that any AG is faced with such charges. Two years ago, the apex court had decided to bar contempt convict lawyers from holding the position of judges in Shakuntala Thapa and Nihita Biswas case. Nnnn AG PRADHAN HUMMING PARTY’S TUNE Kathmandu, 23 Jan.: Former attorney generals and lawyers today accused Attorney General Mukti Narayan Pradhan of humming the tune of the ruling Unified CPN-Maoist party rather than being the chief prosecutor of the country, The Himalayan Times reports.. Speaking at a programme on ‘Criminal Justice in Transitional Justice’ organised by the Constitutional Lawyers Forum, former AGs and lawyers criticised AG Pradhan for playing the role as a party cadre and not the first lawyer of the country. “This shows that a party cadre cannot be the AG,” Badri Bahadur Karki, former attorney general, said. “The chief legal advisor of the government should work responsibly for the sake of rule of law and constitution, simply because he is not only the lawyer of the government but he is also the main lawyer of the state,” Karki added. Similarly former AG Mahadev Yadav said taking sides of the perpetrators was a serious mistake of AG Pradhan. Transitional justice is not different from the regular criminal justice system so the state should not differentiate the concept of justice into various parts during adjudication, said Yuba Raj Sangroula, another former attorney general. According to him, AG Pradhan has been facing charges that he failed to address the concerned to defend the victim. “Dekendra Thapa murder case shows that AG is not pleading on behalf of the victims, but he has also been protecting the perpetrators,” he added. The letter of the attorney general issued to the Dailekh District Attorney Office and the District Police Office through the Police Headquarters shows that AG Pradhan is not the lawyers of the victim but he has been defending the perpetrators. Stating that victims should get justice at any cost, former lawmaker and lawyer Ekraj Bhandari blamed the leaders for not working in favour of justice. nnnn