The Kathmandu District Court on Wednesday sentenced cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane to eight years in jail for rape.
A single bench of judge Shishir Raj Dhakal pronounced the jail term. The bench also slapped Rs300,000 fine and ordered the cricketer to pay Rs200,000 in compensation to the victim, said Chandra Prasad Panthi, information officer at the court.
On December 29, the bench convicted the former captain of the national cricket team after concluding that he had raped Gushala-26, a name given to the victim, in a Tilganga-based hotel on August 21, 2022. A hearing was scheduled for Wednesday to determine the sentence.
The verdict came 15 months after the case was lodged on September 6, 2022, when the victim filed a rape case against the cricketer.
The court, however, dismissed her claim that she was a minor at the time of the rape. The court has also refused to accept the birth dates mentioned in her academic documents, which show she was 17 at the time of the incident.
When the investigation started, Lamichhane was in the West Indies to play in the Caribbean Premier League. He was arrested from Tribhuvan International Airport upon arrival on October 6, 2022.
The Kathmandu District Court on November 4 last year had ordered that Lamichhane be sent to the Sundhara-based central jail after a detention hearing.
Lamichhane had moved the high court, challenging the order.
On January 12, a division bench of high court judges Dhruva Raj Nanda and Ramesh Dahal decided to release him on bail while the investigation continued. Following the verdict, Lamichhane was released from custody on January 13 after posting a bail of Rs2 million. The court, however, had barred him from travelling abroad and asked him to inform the police while leaving Kathmandu.
Dissatisfied with the travel restrictions, Lamichhane moved the Supreme Court, challenging the high court’s decision. On February 27, a division bench of justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Kumar Chudal ruled in favour of the petition filed by the cricketer, allowing him to travel abroad to play games.
He, then, had been travelling to various countries to play games.
