TU professor assailants convicted amid government attempts to drop the case

Last week, the Kathmandu District Court convicted a gang of six assailants who brutally assaulted Tribhuvan University Sociology Assistant Professor Prem Chalaune in October 2020, sentencing them to two years of imprisonment.

Additionally, they are required to pay medical expenses of Rs 2,817,553 and a fine of Rs 20,000 each, according to the court verdict.

A single bench of Judge Binod Khatiwada convicted Nepal Students Union (NSU) leaders Hari Acharya and Yogendra Rawal along with a gang of Rupesh Sah, Nabin Kumar Lama, Niraj Ranamagar, and Sayuj Shrestha in line with clause (5) of section 192 of the National Penal (Code) Act, 2017.

Chalaune had lodged a case of attempted murder against the attackers who carried out a brutal attack on the professor around the university premises in October 2020. The assault left Chalaune with bodily injuries, including in the head. Despite the initial attempt to murder charges, the assailants were convicted under assault leading to grievous hurt. 

According to the code, an attempted murder offense is subject to imprisonment for a maximum of 10 years.

Earlier, several efforts were made to thwart the case where the government itself was at the forefront.

The Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government decided to withdraw the case on June 13 on the recommendation of the Law Minister Dhan Raj Gurung even when the case was under judicial consideration at the Kathmandu District Court.

Minister Gurung, in fact, justified the attack on national television where he accused Chalaune of provoking student leaders by removing BP Koirala’s biography from the curriculum.

Subsequently, Prof Chalaune initiated a hunger strike after filing a petition against the government’s unscrupulous decision. He ended the strike after the Supreme Court ordered against the government decision while issuing a show cause notice to the government.

Before that, the Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government had also tried to drop the case. 

According to Himal Khabar, the Nepali Congress’s Kathmandu District Working Committee and the NSU Office had applied to the Ministry of Home Affairs based on which the Office of the Attorney General had indicated the possibility of withdrawing the case in June 2022. However, the government, fearing criticism, stepped back at that time from covering up the crime that happened on university premises.