KATHMANDU, March 10: The Supreme Court has refused to issue an interim order on a writ petition filed by advocate Gyanendra Aran and others demanding the arrest and investigation of Prime Minister and Chairman of the CPN (Maoist Center) Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda.

The apex court ordered that the legal questions of the case will be decided only after the full hearing as a writ petition has been filed on the matter related to transitional justice, which has been explained many times already.

A single bench of justice Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada said that there is no ground to issue the interim order as per the demand put forth by the petitioners. However, the apex court has ordered to give priority to both the cases. If any case has to be judged quickly, there is a system to put such cases in priority. 

The SC has ordered priority based on the importance, seriousness and sensitivity of the issues raised in the writ petition. As a writ petition is related to transitional justice, the apex court has maintained that the dispute will be resolved on the basis of the constitution, existing laws, the principles propounded by the SC earlier on transitional justice and international practices.

Prime Minister Dahal will, however, need to submit separate written answers  following the SC’s order. The apex court will now proceed with this case according to the regular procedure after submission of written responses from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Defense, and Ministry of Law along with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons. 

Prime Minister Dahal, while speaking at a public function in Kathmandu on January 15, 2020, had said that he would take the responsibility for the 5,000 people who were killed by CPN (Maoist) during the decade long armed conflict waged by his party in the name of People’s War.

On March 7, a total of 26 people, including advocate Gyanendra Raj Aran and Kalyan Budhathoki, had registered two writ petitions against PM Dahal.

Earlier, the SC administration had ordered not to register the writ petitions stating that the application submitted on the basis of expression of political nature could not be registered. After the petitioners went to the SC against the administration order, a division bench of Justice Ishwar Prasad Khatiwada and Hari Phuyal had ordered the registration of the petitions.