December 22: The Supreme Court (SC) has issued an order to release serial kicker Charles Sobhraj Gurumukh considering his age and send him back to his country within two weeks.    
A division bench of justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Til Prasad Shrestha issued the order on Wednesday directing the concerned officials to send this message to the Prison Office.

“If it is not necessary to imprison him for other cases, he needs to be released and arrangement made to send him back to his home within 15 days,” the order stated.    

In response to a writ petition filed by Sobhraj’s lawyer, the justices noted that the convict is already 75-years-old and is under medication for heart disease. He has also served 75 percent (19 years) of his jail term. So, it is not reasonable to keep him in prison from the legal viewpoint and from the perspective of prisoners’ human rights, the court order stated.    
In 2003, the District Court Bhaktapur had slapped a lifetime imprisonment along with confiscation of all property of the French national Sobhraj, who is known as the serial bikini killer, for murder cases that dates back to the 1970s.