A local court in Kolkata on Tuesday rejected the appeal of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for arrest warrants against 22 Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leaders, including its president Bimal Gurung, in the murder case of prominent Gorkha leader Madan Tamang. Prominent GJM leaders against whom the CBI wanted arrest warrants include Gurung’s wife, Asha Gurung, GJM general secretary Roshan Giri, and the Morcha assistant general secretary Binay Tamang. The court said the GJM leaders could be represented by their lawyers. The counsel for GJM leaders also appealed to the court for protection of party leaders and activists living at Gorkha Bhavan in Kolkata and alleged they were being harassed regularly. Most of the accused against whom the CBI wanted arrest warrants are currently spearheading a movement for carving out a separate state for the Nepali-speaking community of West Bengal’s Darjeeling district.

Source: Hindustan Times July 25, 2017 11:37 UTC