Former minister of state for Information and Communications Shrish Shumsher JB Rana being brought to the Kathmandu District Court after the Supreme Court’s order to release from detention, Sunday, June 04 06. nepalnews.com/rh

Former minister of state for Information and Communications Shrish Shumsher JB Rana being brought to the Kathmandu District Court after the Supreme Court’s order to release from detention, Sunday, June 04 06. nepalnews.com/rh
Authorities released three ministers of the erstwhile royal regime following a Supreme Court order Sunday.

Former minister Ramesh Nath Pandey, former state minister Shris Shumsher Rana and former assistant minister Nikshay Shumsher Rana were released within hours of the court order.

Deciding on a habeas corpus writ petition, a full court comprising of Chief Justice Dilip Kumar Poudel and Justices Min Bahadur Raymajhi, Ram Nagina Singh, Anup Raj Sharma and Khil Raj Regmi gave the release order.

Talking to Nepalnews after his release, spokesperson of the former government and communication minister Shris Shumsher Rana said the court “has done justice” by giving the release order.

“I am a free man now. The court has done justice,” he commented but was wary of making any political comment. “I have been a journalist for most of life. While in the government, I advocated for professional journalism and I will be doing what a professional journalist is supposed to do,” said he.

Rana was one of the staunchest apologists of the royal move of February 1, 2005 and, as a communication minister, he played a key role in introducing new media law that invited national and international condemnation. He shelled out hefty amounts to pro-palace journalists from the state coffer and introduced “one door advertisement policy”, shifting a major chunk of welfare advertisements to pro-government media outlets from the independent ones.