Govt serious on prison reform and implementation of human rights of prisoners: Home Minister 

Kathmandu. The meeting of the Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee has discussed and collected suggestions on the report of the Sub-Committee on Human Rights Situation of Detainees and Detainees in various jails and detainees, 2083 BS.

The meeting also discussed the issue of endorsing the report of the Sub-Committee on Human Rights of Children in Child Correction Homes-2083 BS submitted to the Committee.

Speaking at the meeting, Home Minister Sudhan Gurung said that if an innocent person was imprisoned during the ‘Genji’ movement, it should not be taken as revenge. He made it clear that those involved in heinous crimes could not be given legal immunity.

“The Genji movement is a very serious issue for us. The way this government was formed, innocent people are in jail in the Genji movement, no one should take revenge for that,” he said. That’s not what the Genji movement is all about. ’

On the occasion, Minister Gurung expressed the commitment that the government would implement the report presented at the committee and the suggestions given by the lawmakers seriously. Stating that the implementation side of the law was weak despite the formulation of the laws, he stressed the need of formulating a plan to implement every suggestion into practice.

“The government of Nepal has only one problem for a long time, there are good laws. But not all are implemented, we are very weak in terms of implementation,” he said, adding, “If we really want to bring change in this country, it is very important to take every point seriously and make a plan on how to implement it.” ’

According to Minister Gurung, there are around 28,000 inmates in prisons across the country while the capacity of the prisons is only 19,000.

According to him, studies are being carried out regarding the physical condition of prisons, infrastructure and necessary budget in different places to manage the pressure of inmates.

Preparation of detailed project report (DPR) for the construction of prison and infrastructure development is also underway, he added.

He said the government was working to make prison management policy-level and systematic. Stating that the arrangement of ‘chiefs’, ‘bhainaike’ and ‘watchmen’ in prison has been stopped, he stressed the need of transparency in the appointment of ‘watchmen’.

He stressed the need of reforming the mentality of the inmates to go to jail after committing crimes again as the situation in which they can take financial benefits inside the prison.

On the occasion, Minister Gurung said that the government has been providing free legal aid to the economically weaker prisoners through remunerative lawyers.