Nepal president pardons jail term of 670 prisoners

The prison sentences of the 670 prisoners were waived in accordance with the recommendation of the Cabinet meeting held on Friday, President's Office spokesperson Shailaja Regmi Bhattarai said in a press release

Kathmandu: Nepal President Ramchandra Paudel on Tuesday pardoned 670 convicts and those serving jail terms as per the government’s recommendation on the occasion of Constitution Day.

Nepal promulgated the new Constitution on September 20, 2015.

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The prison sentences of the 670 prisoners were waived in accordance with the recommendation of the Cabinet meeting held on Friday, President’s Office spokesperson Shailaja Regmi Bhattarai said in a press release.

The prisoners will be released on Wednesday as Nepal observes the Constitution Day, the release said.

According to a report in The Kathmandu Post newspaper, there is a practice of pardoning inmates and convicts by the President, on the Cabinet’s recommendation, on Republic Day, Constitution Day and during Dashain festival.

However, such decisions have got mired in controversy, time and again.

The pardon granted by the then President Bidya Devi Bhandari in 2018 to Bal Krishna Dhungel, a murder convict, was heavily criticised. Similarly, President Paudel’s move to grant pardon to Resham Chaudhary, a convict in the 2015 Tikapur carnage, in May, too courted controversy, the report said.