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Kathmandu, December 30 The Supreme Court has upheld the decision of the Special Court Martial that sacked former captain of Nepali Army Bhupendra Khadka, for having sexual relations with Chhabisara Sunar, a low ranking employee of the Nepali Army. Petitioner Khadka had stated in his writ petition that although he had consensual sexual relations with the woman, he did not coerce her to abort her foetus. The General Court Martial had held the petitioner guilty of violating military discipline, which the Special Court Martial had upheld. The Supreme Court said in the full text of the verdict delivered on April 27 that there was no need to overturn the Special Court Martial verdict as there was no inconsistency in the verdict. A division bench of justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Purushottam Bhandari delivered the verdict. The petitioner had urged the SC to reinstate him to his service and order the Nepali Army to provide his salary and benefits from the date his service was terminated. On 20 December 2012, the Military General Court had decided to sack the petitioner from his job. The Special Court Martial had upheld the Special Court Martial verdict on 21 October 2013. The Supreme Court rejected the petitioner argument that he had consensual sexual relation with a low ranking employee of the Nepal Army, saying there was unequal status between Khadka and Sunar as the former was an officer-level army personnel and the woman was a low-level employee of the Nepali Army and thus former captain of the Nepali Army Khadka was guilty of sexually exploiting the low-ranking army personnel. The post SC upholds dismissal of army captain appeared first on The Himalayan Times.
