Prachanda dragged to court for comments on judiciary

Nepal's Maoist supremo Prachanda was today dragged to the Supreme Court in a contempt of court case for criticising the judiciary for issuing verdicts on cases during the decade-long insurgency.
Advocate Dinesh Tripathi registered the contempt of court case at the apex court demanding a court order sentencing the former prime minister to one year's jail and a fine of Rs 10,000 for his remarks against the judiciary.
Prachanda, 61, reportedly had accused the judiciary of hatching a conspiracy to derail the peace process as it was issuing verdicts on the conflict-era cases though they fell under the jurisdictionof recently formed Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Prachanda has recently told a programme here that the Maoist party would not accept such verdicts.
In his petition, Tripathi has referred to report published intwo national dailies as evidence for Prachanda's statements.
Dahal on Friday said that he can be dragged to court on charges of conflict-era cases.

Dahal's remarks came on a nine-point deal was signed by him with the CPN-UML, which is aiming to withdraw war-era cases from courts and offer amnesty to grave rights abuses committed during the decade-long insurgency.
The UCPN (Maoist) has been demanding that war-era cases be dealt with by transitional justice bodies and not by regular courts.

The nine-point deal, which has been opposed by national rights activists and international rights groups, has raised suspicion among conflict victims that it could rob them of their right to justice.
Defending his party's stance, Dahal, at an interaction, argued that cases of insurgency period should be resolved politically.
"As then commander (of the Maoist army), I am responsible for every incident that took place during the conflict," said Dahal. "If the conflict-era cases are dealt with by regular courts, they should jail me first."
Dahal also accused lawyers and human rights activists of making a "huge fuss" about the issue and conspiring to "derail the peace process".

The Nepali Civil War was an armed conflict between government forces and Maoist rebels which lasted from 1996 until 2006. The war was launched by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) on February 13, 1996 after being denied participation in a national election.