No withdrawing criminal cases

No withdrawing criminal cases

For May 30, 2011,

Laws are made to curb the activities that disturb the freedom of others so that everybody enjoys all their human rights equally. Crime is the activity that involves breaking the law and a criminal is a person who commits a crime. A state of law maintains several ways of punishment so that it could maintain peace and security and make the societies worth living for all its citizenry.

General offences can be excused or overlooked a bit but heinous crimes can never be ignored because otherwise they may happen again and again without a hitch. People of any society with poor maintenance of laws are compelled to live in terror and that society cannot progress working in fear-free environment. It's the first duty of government to manage, provide peace and security, correct, update and make laws stringent in accordance with new challenges of crimes. A hardened criminal can be of no use to any civil society. There are examples of many criminals spending happy life after coming out serving their terms in jail. The fear of punishment discourages ones to commit crimes but letting them off encourages them to result some anti-human acts.

With the change of government, policies change. Almost all the criminals are connected with some political parties and they enjoy political protection from time to time. The reports that Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara from Maoist Party is preparing to withdraw some of the criminal cases have made three prominent international human rights watchdogs - Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and International Commission of Jurists worried.

In a joint open letter to Prime Minsiter Jhala Nath Khanal, the rights bodies said prevailing culture of impunity has deprived victims of human rights abuses of justice and erodes the credibility and effectiveness of the criminal justice system in Nepal. The letter alerted the PM that DPM Mahara has been trying to protect some criminals by withdrawing cases of serious gravity including killings of Arjun Lama and Maina Sunuwar.

The letter further said, “The appointment of communications minister Agni Sapkota, a Unified CPN-M member, while he is under police investigation, sends a strong signal of government indifference to such serious allegations and reinforces the culture of impunity in Nepal.”

The rights bodies have also urged the PM to create a mechanism to ensure that those against whom there are credible allegations of involvement in human rights violations do not assume positions of power in government.

Any case of violation of law must not be withdrawn in any condition so as to assure the public of good governance and the state of law and order in the country. If the criminals are let off, the societies can never be worth living in a peaceful manner.