The Ministry of Home Affairs has recommended that the Cabinet should waive off the sixmonth jail term imposed on Nagarik Unmukti Party lawmaker Arun Kumar Chaudhary in a criminal case adjudicated nine years ago in his home district of Kailali. Chaudhary was convicted for setting ablaze a tractor 13 years ago. The court had declared him an absconder for not serving his jail term.
Chaudhary, who was elected from Kailali Constituency No 2, was arrested on February 2 from Banke district and put behind bars.
A home ministry source said that the ministry had forwarded a proposal to the Cabinet recommending jail-term waiver for Chaudhary. Chaudhary's sentence waiver could be announced on Sunday when the country celebrates the Democracy Day.
A government source said that the President's Office had not yet got the government's recommendation for waiving off Chaudhary's sentence, but he was most likely to get a waiver as Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and CPN-UML Chair KP Sharma Oli had reached an agreement to secure his release.
The Ranjita Shrestha-led Nagarik Unmukti Party, which has been demanding the release of Resham Chaudhary, who was convicted for Kailali carnage, has also been demanding Arun Chaudhary's release.
The Dahal-led coalition wants to win the confidence of NUP, which has four MPs in the HoR and seven members in Sudurpaschim provincial assembly.
Earlier, the home ministry had sought legal opinion from the Office of the Attorney General.
Spokesperson for OAG Sanjeeb Raj Regmi told THT that the home ministry had asked his office about the status of case filedagainst Chaudhary. The OAG told the home ministry that it did not contest Kailali District Court's verdict because the court awarded the punishment that government attorneys had sought.
He said the government had the power to waive off Chaudhary's jail sentence, as his case was 'not in the negative list'.