KATHMANDU, March 8: The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered release of CK Raut on bail, months after he was arrested for making secessionist remarks.
A bench of Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana and Justice Purushottam Bhandari directed the government, the defendant in this case, to release Raut citing lack of evidence as no one named him a culprit to substantiate the charge.
SC orders release of foreigner detained ‘arbitrarily’
Raut, the coordinator of Free Madhes Alliance (FMA), was arrested while returning from Rautahat district court on October 7 last year on charges of making comments against the state.
At a function organized to mark ‘Black Day’, the day when Nepal promulgated new constitution, Raut and his supporters had made secessionist remarks and displayed placards calling for end to “racism, colonization and genocide”. A few other placards that among other things read “Madhes is not Nepal”, “Madhes is new country in Asia” were also displayed in districts like Dhanusha, Saptari and Siraha.
Raut, while addressing supporters in Janakpur, had said that there was no alternative to Independent Madhes to save the existence of Madhes, according to a press statement issued by the Free Madhesh Alliance on September 19, 2018.
