The regulation drafting committee of the House of Representatives has agreed to include a provision in the House regulation to suspend parliamentarian when they are sent to jail for judicial custody by a court on charges of criminal offences such as murder, rape, narcotic smuggling and robbery. 

During the committee meeting on Wednesday, the members stood in favour of the provision. 

Due to the absence of a “suspension” provision in the previous parliament, parliamentarians who had been arrested or remanded in custody for criminal offences weren’t suspended. In a previous committee meeting, lawmakers from the Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Centre), and CPN (Unified Socialist) were in favour of suspending such lawmakers. 

They were of the view that the decision would send a negative message that only the general public was subject to the rules and regulations, while parliamentarians were immune. 

The Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Janata Samajbadi Party, and other Madhesh-based parties, however, stood against suspending lawmakers until they are convicted by a court. However, some parties changed their stance on Wednesday and voted in favour of the suspension. 

As crimes like murder and rape are more complicated than corruption, legal experts are also of the opinion that there should be a system of automatically suspending lawmakers involved in criminal cases immediately after they are taken into custody.