A Nepali man, who was doing time in Qatar Central Jail for murder conviction since 2003, has been acquitted by the Court of Cassation of Qatar , the country’s highest court.

Forty-year-old Chandra Shekhar Yadav, a native of Belaha-7 in Siraha district, was released on Sunday. He is preparing to return home, informed Sakir Ali, a civil society leader in Siraha. Ali, who had a telephone conversation with Yadav, said that he was freed after the Qatargovernment decided to pardon him on the occasion of Qatar ’s National Day on December 18. Suryanath Mishra, former ambassador to Qatar who had interceded  with the Qatar i government for Yadav’s release, said that he was happy to hear the court’s decision.“We had fought hard to secure his release.  We express out humble gratitude to the Qatar i government for making this possible,” he toldthe Post.

The news about Yadav’s release has come as a huge sigh of relief for his friends and family. “I used to pray for his release. Finally, my prayers have been answered,” said Yadav’s wife Ramdulari Devi. She thanked the Qatar i government and all those people who had struggled for her husband’s freedom. Yadav and Ramdulari have four children. After Yadav was imprisoned, his elder brother Lawakumar had been looking after his family. Yadav and two Indian nationals--Shreedhar Manikantan and Unikrishnan-- were convicted of murdering an Indonesian woman, whose body was recovered in a beach.

The lower court in Qatar had issued death penalty to the trio in 2006, but thesentence was later revised to 15 years jail term after the government of Nepal and Nepali community appealed to the Qatar i government. The government of Nepal had also hired a lawyer in Qatar to fight Yadav’s case

According to the court’s ruling of December 10, 2010, Yadav was due to be released on December 20, 2018.

 Published  on: 26 December 2014 | The Kathmandu Post