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KATHMANDU: The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday issued an order to bail release Prithivi Malla, who was arrested for hitting a woman with the car he was driving in an inebriated state, eventually killing her.
A joint bench of Justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Manoj Kumar Sharma reversed the decision of Kathmandu District Court and Patan High Court and ordered that Malla be released on bail, citing health reasons.
The Supreme Courtrelease order states that Malla, a patient of severe depression and asthama, faces hight risk of Covid-19.
&The accused has cooperated in investigation by staying in judicial custody for over seven months and itunlikely that he would run away or destroy evidence,& the court order states, adding, &As such, the Kathmandu District Court and the Patan High Courtdecisions have been reversed.&
Kathmandu District Court Judge Deepak Kumar Dahal after a trial hearing on January 8 had denied bail to Malla and ordered the police to send the defendant to jail until final verdict.
Malla sent to judicial custody for fatal road accident
After that, Prithivi Malla had appealed to the Patan High Court against that decision, however, the court upheld the decision of the district court.
He then moved the apex court which decided to release him on posting bail of Rs 500,000, informed Kishor Paudel, media expert at Supreme Court.
Malla has already been released from Sadar Khor in Dillibazar after posting the bail amount on Thursday, following the SCdecision, informed a prison official.
On December 14, Leela Devkota, 38, of Gorkha was killed after a car driven by Malla hit the pedestrian near Budhanilkantha School.
She had succumbed to her injuries while undergoing treatment at the Bansbari-based Upendra Devkota Memorial National Institute of Neurological and Allied Sciences.
Budhanilkantha accident: Victimfamily says state must ensure guilty is brought to book
Devkota was walking towards the factory situated across the bridge where she worked when the speeding car hit her.
Malla was driving the car under influence.
He was detained by police, who arrived at the scene within a few minutes of the accident.
According to section 31 of the Motor Vehicle and Transport Management Act-1993, if a vehicle due to recklessness driving, runs over or knocks down any person resulting in his/her death, the driver shall be punished with imprisonment for term ranging from two years to 10 years, depending on the gravity of the offence.
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