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Cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane, who was convicted of rape by the Kathmandu District Court, will be allowed to fight the case from outside the jail.

Lamichhane had reached the Patan High Court on Thursday to file an appeal against the District Court’s decision.

Deputy registrar Tirtha Raj Bhattarai, who is also the spokesperson of the High Court, said that the permission has been granted to Lamichhane to fight the case from outside the jail.

“He got the permission to fight the case from outside the jail as per Civil Code 2074,” Bhattarai said.

The Kathmandu District Court on January 10 had slapped on cricketer Sandip Lamichhane an eight-year jail term along with Rs 500,000 as fine and compensation after finding him guilty of rape..

On Dec 29 last year, a single bench of judge Sishiraj Dhakal had issued a verdict in consonance with Section 219 (3) (e) of Civil Code 2074, finding Lamichhane guilty of raping ‘Gaushala 26’. 

The verdict has established that the accused “raped the victim taking advantage of her poor economic condition” and convicted him as per clause 219—1, 2 and 3 (d)—of the Criminal Code Procedure.

The case started unraveling after Lamichhane’s arrest from Tribhuvan International Airport on Oct 6 last year, on the basis of a complaint accusing him of raping a minor on Sept 6 the same year.

Citing statements from both the parties, the CCTV footage and an eyewitness account, the verdict states that ‘Gaushala 26’ and Lamichhane stayed at a hotel room in Kathmandu after their return from a journey to Nagarkot, adding that Lamichhane had raped her in the room.

Prof Dr Keshar Jung Baral has been appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of the Tribhuvan University.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal appointed Baral as the Vice-Chancellor of the Tribhuvan University on Thursday.

Prime Minister Dahal’s press advisor Hari Lamichhane said that Prof. Dr Baral has been appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of the Tribhuvan University.

Prior to this, Prof. Dr Baral had served as the Vice-Chancellor of Pokhara University.

The Vice-Chancellor Selection and Recommendation Committee had recommended the names of three persons for the post of Tribhuvan University Vice-Chancellor.

Along with Baral, the names of Prof. Dr Chitra Bahadur Budhathoki and Prof. Dr Tankanath Dhakal were recommended for the post of Vice-Chancellor.

The South Asian University (SAU) has started receiving funds from the member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), a step that will help the varsity to bounce back from its financial crisis, SAU president KK Aggarwal said.

In an interview with PTI, Aggarwal said that the university, under his tenure, will focus on controlling the expenditure by attracting more students without scholarships and designing a rational salary structure for teachers.

“The university is supposed to be funded by all the member countries. Others were not paying their share for quite some time. I have spoken to all of them and by and large, their response is that now that things have started improving we are ready to pay,” Aggarwal said.

“We have recently moved to a new permanent campus. Previously, we were functioning from a rented space. So our first focus is to build the required infrastructure such as hostels for students and academic blocks for the new programmes that are in the pipeline to be rolled out starting this academic year,” Aggarwal said.

“We will also look into opening offshore campuses of SAU in each of the SAARC countries using the funds and setting up its branches across India,” he added.

Earlier in 2022, Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had said that some of the SAARC countries had not paid their share of the financial aid to the university due to which the varsity was facing severe financial constraints.

“Beyond that, there are issues of management and academic freedom,” Jaishanker had said while responding to a question in the parliament.

The top three posts of the university were served by ad-hoc members since 2019, during which it suffered a loss of about Rs 9m due to an erroneous tax exemption granted to the registrar, according to a Public Accounts Committee report tabled in the Lok Sabha in December last year.

President Ram Chandra Paudel inaugurated the 5, 555 kg bell placed at Panchakot-4 of Baglung on Thursday.

The President also offered prayers at the Anantashree Brhamandiya Mahayagya being held in Panchakot since Wednesday.

The grand bell has been installed with the objective of developing Panchakot as a religious tourist destination.

Dozens of other religious structures including Sis Mahal, Gandaki Mata Temple, Yagyasala, a Hanuman statue have been built in Panchakot.

On the occasion, President Paudel also observed the 108 feet high Gandaki Vishwashanti Kalash built at the same place.

The grand bell was made at a cost of around Rs 20 million.