The Surkhet High Court upheld the life imprisonment sentence given to the defendants in the Soti incident in which 6 people, including Navraj Vick of Jajarkot, were killed.
The bench of Judges Somkant Mainali and Matrikaprasad Bhandari upheld the sentence of life imprisonment to 23 defendants in this case.
Sub-Registrar of the court Prem Prakash Thapa informed that the order given by the district court Rukumpaschim on the offense of caste discrimination and untouchability has been annulled. He said, 'All defendants have been acquitted and some verdicts have been overturned due to racial untouchability. The full text is yet to come.'
On 19th November 2080, the bench of then district judge Khadk Bahadur KC of District Court Rukum Paschim sentenced 24 people including the then ward president Dambar Bahadur Malla to life imprisonment . Similarly, Navaraj's lover, his mother and brother were found guilty of caste violence and sentenced to two years in prison . 8 people were acquitted in the
incident. Munlal Nepali, the father of Navaraj Vic, filed two appeals against the decision of the district by Malla Sahib, who is in Rukum Paschim prison. The case was heard in the bench of Judges Somkant Mainali and Matrikaprasad Bhandari on 26 appeal petitions filed in the High Court Surkhet on 9th Baisakh.
20-year-old Tikaram Nepali, 19-year-old Ganesh Budha, 18-year-old Lokendra Sunar, 20-year-old Sanju Vick and 17-year-old Gobind Shahi who went with Navraj were also killed in the incident. The bodies of all of them were found in the Bheri River. Since
, relatives of the deceased and Dalit rights activists have been raising slogans in front of the High Court gate saying that the Supreme Court has acquitted them in heinous crimes like caste discrimination. They are sitting on dharna in front of the court .
