Janakpur High Court sentences former MPs Koiri and Sharma to five years in APF officer murder case

Two former Nepali lawmakers, Laxmi Mahato Koiri and Abhiram Sharma, have been sentenced to five years in prison by the Janakpur High Court. The conviction relates to the 2015 murder of Assistant Sub Inspector Thaman BK during the 'Madhesh movement' protests. This verdict marks a significant reversal of a lower court's decision.

In December 2023, the Mahottari District Court had acquitted Koiri, a former member of the House of Representatives, of the murder charge. Sharma, a former provincial lawmaker, had received a life sentence from the same district court. However, the High Court's division bench, comprising acting chief judge Tek Bahadur Kunwar and judge Murari Babu Shrestha, has now handed down a uniform five-year sentence to both.

Koiri, who was elected to the House of Representatives in 2022, was accused of dragging BK from a police vehicle and participating in his killing during protests in Jaleshwar, Mahottari. The initial murder case involved 28 defendants, with 25 others facing separate charges for arson. The detailed reasoning behind the High Court's revised verdict is still pending.

The sentencing highlights the legal proceedings following a period of significant political unrest in Nepal. The 'Madhesh movement' was a series of protests by ethnic minority groups in the southern Terai region demanding greater representation and autonomy.