WITHOUT F EAR OR FAVOUR Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXIX No. 109 | 8 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 38.6 C 11.6 C Monday, June 07, 2021 | 24-02-2078 Bhairahawa Jumla All eyes on Chief Justice Rana, as crisis deepens in the judiciary After Rana constituted the bench on seniority basis, Oli’s lawyers demand expulsion of two justices for their position that current House dissolution is linked to March 7 verdict. TIKA R PRADHAN KATHMANDU, JUNE 6 EDITORIAL | PG 4 The judiciary must ensure its Nepal’s judiciary is facing a tough time extricating itself from an ongo- independence so that it remains ing crisis it has plunged into after loyal to the citizens. questions raised over justices and their presence in the Constitutional Rana on May 28 had formed the Bench which is hearing petitions on Constitutional Bench with Justices the May 21 House dissolution. Deepak Kumar Karki, Ananda Mohan After senior advocates pleading on Bhattarai, Tej Bahadur KC and Bam behalf of the petitioners asked not to Kumar Shrestha as members. have at least two justices on the bench, However, those arguing on behalf Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher of the petitioners said that Justices Rana on Sunday reconstituted it by Tej Bahadur KC and Bam Kumar designating justices on the basis of Shrestha cannot be on the bench. their seniority. They argued that Shrestha was one But those defending Prime Minister of the bench members that on March 7 KP Sharma Oli’s House dissolution passed a verdict which invalidated the decision, including Attorney General Nepal Communist Party (NCP) and Ramesh Badal, demanded that at least revived the CPN-UML and the POST PHOTO: HEMANTA SHRESTHA two justices cannot be on the bench Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist A fisherman prepares his net at Koshi Barrage on the border of Sunsari and Saptari districts. Small fish from the river sell for Rs400 to Rs500 per kg. because of the position they have Centre). They had said the current taken that does not appear impartial. House dissolution was a direct out- Now pressure is building on Chief come of that decision. Justice Rana to resolve the crisis and Though Rana had tried to defend, find an amicable solution as the judi- saying everyone must have faith in ciary’s independence is at stake. justices, the lawyers refused to listen. Nepal signs non-disclosure agreement to buy Chinese “The chief justice must be assertive They also questioned KC’s seat on the and show his leadership now,” said bench, saying he was one of the justic- Balaram KC, a former Supreme Court es of the bench led by Rana that reject- justice. “The longer the crisis contin- ed Maoist chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s Covid-19 vaccines but legal questions remain ues, the more harm the Supreme petition against the March 7 decision. Court will suffer.” >> Continued on page 2 Nepal’s law does not allow such an agreement. Nepal wants to buy 10 million doses, but Sinopharm can only supply 2 million now and the price is not fixed yet, officials say. PRITHVI MAN SHRESTHA ond wave of pandemic, the govern- cines will be available.” KATHMANDU, JUNE 6 ment sought to procure vaccines from According to Roshan Pokharel, the Chinese company amid uncertain- chief specialist at the Health Ministry, With the country in desperate need of ty of supply from other sources. the government had proposed to buy Covid-19 vaccines, the government “The non-disclosure agreement 10 million doses but the Chinese have has signed a non-disclosure agree- was signed on Friday between the said they cannot make that quantity ment with the vaccine maker Department of Health Services and available immediately. Sinopharm to procure Chinese shots Sinopharm electronically,” an official “We will initially get probably two despite questions whether such an at the department told the Post on million doses,” he told the Post. agreement can be signed legally condition of anonymity. “After the The Chinese government has already remains unanswered. Health Ministry authorised the direc- given Nepal 1.8 million doses of the With the country battling the sec- tor general to sign the agreement with Sinopharm vaccine in grants—800,000 Sinopharm, the agreement was doses in March and an additional one signed.” million doses in early June. Sinopharm’s proposal for a The second grant of 1 million will non-disclosure agreement had be administered to 60 to 64 year-olds. created a dilemma among offi- Those above 65 years, who were cials as Nepal’s laws don’t provi- given their first doses of the Covishield sion non-disclosure agreements vaccine in March, are yet to get the in public procurement. second dose as India barred the export “After we state the quantity of of vaccines and the Serum Institute of jabs to be procured, Sinopharm India is yet to supply 1 million doses will quote the prices,” the depart- Nepal has already paid for. Supply ment official said. “Then the pro- from the COVAX facility remains curement process will move for- uncertain too. ward. I cannot say when the vac- >> Continued on page 2 Starving stray dogs face their own lockdown blues With the Valley under prohibitory orders, they are not getting enough to eat. This has made them aggressive, say vets and dog lovers who feed them. the biscuits, fought among themselves and one nearly bit my hand when the biscuits were finished. They looked very hungry and wanted more food.” Thursday was the last day that gro- cery shops and department stores were closed for a week as per the strict pro- hibitory orders enforced in the Valley to check the coronavirus transmission. “For three days after such orders came [on May 28] they were silent, but now they have started to bark and snarl and when you go near them they become really aggressive,” said Khagendra Roka, 33, who operates an eatery at Bakhundole. The stray dogs were hungry. “These areas are full of restaurants, and these dogs used to survive on the leftovers from the restaurants and even customers of Big Mart used to feed them,” said Roka. “There are half POST PHOTO a dozen dogs and a single person can’t The family of Indu Maharjan has been adopting and feeding stray canines at Jwagal, Lalitpur afford to feed them all, they are really for over a decade. They also feed stray dogs twice a day along the Bagmati corridor now. in need of food.” He said he has been feeding one ANUP OJHA dozen stray dogs. She gave them some stray dog that stays in front of his KATHMANDU, JUNE 6 biscuits she had carried in her bag as closed restaurant. she always did. Due to the prolonged lockdown, res- Last Thursday morning Mira But their aggressive behaviour taurants have been closed and grocery Lamichhane, a dog lover, was return- caught her by surprise. stores and butcheries are allowed to ing home after buying vegetables. On “I had never seen them so aggres- open only briefly as a result of which the way back to her flat at Bakhundole sive before,” said Lamichhane, a the stray canines have been starved. she was surrounded by over half a 31-year-old nurse. “They gobbled up >> Continued on page 2 C M Y K MONDAY, JUNE 07, 2021 | 02 NATIONAL Three men arrested on charge of sexually assaulting two Raute girls The suspects took the victims to a local hotel, got them drunk and sexually assaulted them, according to police. CHANDANI KATHAYAT Social Development Ministry of BIRENDRANAGAR, JUNE 6 Karnali Province, the lives of the vic- tims are in danger, as the news and Police on Sunday arrested three peo- video of the incident have gone public. ple on the charge of sexually assault- “The video has been taken down ing two teenage girls from the Raute from social media platforms,” said community in Gurbhakot Gyawali. “We have been trying to Municipality-9, Surkhet on Saturday convince the victims to get medical night. tests done but they are hesitant.” The suspects allegedly took the vic- According to Gyawali, the victims POST PHOTO DEEPAK KC tims to a local hotel, got them drunk do not realise that what happened to Workers weed the green belt along the Gwarko section of Ring Road in Lalitpur on Sunday. and sexually assaulted them, accord- them is wrong. ing to police. The men filmed the incident and uploaded the video on social media. Police made the The video shows the perpetrators drinking alcohol with the victims and arrests after video Starving stray dogs face their own lockdown blues harassing the intoxicated women. Police detained the accused on Sunday of the incident after the video went viral. >> CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Last year during the lockdown there “They are like humans. They need under the Ministry of Agriculture According to Deputy Superintendent went viral on were cases of stray dogs attacking to be fed. Many are on the streets with and Livestock Development, said the of Police Ram Prasad Gharti, 29-year- social media. Though some non-governmental chickens, ducks and other domesticat- empty stomachs and they are getting central government does not have any old Binod Pun, owner of the hotel organizations and dog lovers have ed animals.” more aggressive,” said Indu Maharjan concrete mechanism regarding stray where the incident took place, and two been providing them food at some According to him, stray dogs are of Jwagal Lalitpur. animals. local youths Bhupendra Budha, 24, places like Bauddha, Jorpati, more aggressive at night.