Final hearing of case against Sandeep Lamichhane on Sep 18

KATHMANDU, Sep 13: The final hearing of the rape case against cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane will be done on September 18. The case has been scheduled for a hearing on September 18 after the papers from the place where the victim migrated arrived.

According to Saroj Krishna Ghimire, the legal practitioner of Sandeep Lamichhane, the final hearing of the case has been scheduled for September 18, and the decision will be given on the same day if the hearing is completed on the same day. If the hearing does not end on that day, the case will be put on the pending list and the final hearing will continue on the next day.

Earlier on September 7, the bench of Judge Shakuntala Karki demanded the documents submitted during the migration from a local level in Kathmandu where the victim girl and her family had migrated.

When there was a dispute about the age of the mother, they also asked for a document confirming the date of birth of the mother to confirm it. After receiving the documents from the local level, the next hearing has been scheduled for September 18.

The rape case registered against Lamichhane in Kathmandu District Court on the 31st of October 2022 has already been scheduled 26 times for hearing till now. Lamichhane was conditionally released by the Patan High Court after the Kathmandu District Court initially sent him to prison for pre-trial detention. But Lamichhane filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court asking for permission to go abroad after he was banned from leaving Nepal.

On that petition, the Supreme Court permitted Lamichhane to go abroad to play cricket and ordered that he inform the court immediately after returning to Nepal. The government attorney, however, went to the Supreme Court with a petition to keep Sandeep imprisoned.

With the order from the Supreme Court, Sandeep has already given one lakh rupees as interim compensation to Gaushala 26, who is said to be the victim. The Supreme Court had ordered the accused to pay interim compensation for the medical treatment of the victim.

The age dispute has become the main issue in the case in which Sandeep Lamichhane is the defendant. According to the date of birth obtained from the official birth registration body, the age of the victim is 18 years and three months at the time of the incident. The victim side has claimed that the girl's age was less than 18 years and her date of birth was 31st May 2005. But the accused side has claimed that the date of birth of the girl is on 31st May 2004 and has claimed that the age of the girl had already reached 18 years. In the birth registration of a girl at a local level in Nuwakot, it has been claimed that the date of birth of the girl is on the 2nd of July 2004. 

Instead of advocating whether or not the rape took place on the date of the alleged rape, the accused party submitted an argument that the girl had reached the legal age at that time. Section 219 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 2074, stipulates that physical contact with a girl who has not reached the age of 18 is considered rape even if she has mutual consent.

But if the girl has reached the age of 18 years, there is a situation where sexual relations can be established with mutual consent. The lawyer from the accused side said that there was no force on that day, Sandeep and the girl went to the hotel with a smile and agreed to stay, and even when they left, they were holding hands and came out laughing, and insisted that it cannot be called rape.

If the final hearing is held on September 18, or from that day onwards, it will be decided whether Sandeep will be acquitted or found guilty after the trial. If he is acquitted, the conditions and restrictions on him will be removed, and he will go to jail to pay the sentence if he is found guilty.