Kathmandu, April 30: The Supreme Court has issued a mandamus order, asking the government to conclude the long-pending transitional justice by speeding up investigations into the complaints over conflict-era cases.
A constitutional bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Sapana Pradhan Malla, justices Dr Manoj Kumar Sharma, Dr Nahakul Subedi, Abdul Ajiz Musalman and Tek Prasad Dhungana ordered the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Commission on Investigation of Enforced Disappeared Persons to ramp up investigation into the complaints and ensure transitional justice to the conflict-era victims.
Spokesperson at SC, Arjun Prasad Koirala, informed RSS that the mandamus was issued to clear obstruction to access to justice. Effective investigation was imperative to finalize transitional justice. The SC also reminded the government of directive orders issued previously on it.
The third amendment to the Act relating to the transitional justice mechanism, 2081 was in the spirit of international standard, SC verdicts and laws, according to SC. Senior member of then Constituent Assembly, Kul Bahadur Gurung, and advocate Dr Gyan Bahadur Basnet had filed a writ petition, making defendants to the Prime Minister’s Office and arguing that the third amendment to the Act was unconstitutional.
However, the petitioners had demanded quicker conclusion of transitional justice by holding thorough investigation into the complaints.
The third amendment to the Act has replaced the term ‘serious violation of human rights’ with ‘human rights violation’ or ‘serious violation of human rights’. In the writ petition, Gurung and Basnet had demanded inclusion of only ‘serious violation of human rights’.
