Two writ petitions have been filed against CPN (Maoist Centre) chair and prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal at the Supreme Court in an insurgency-related case.

Two separate petitions by advocates Gyanendra Aaran and Kalyan Budhathoki were registered at the apex court on Tuesday against Dahal for claiming responsibility for 5,000 insurgency-era deaths three years ago.

The petitions were filed on behalf of 20 persons who identify themselves as conflict victims.

In their petitions, the victims have demanded the court take necessary legal action against Dahal for the killings that he himself owned up to.

The hearing of the case has been scheduled for Thursday, the apex court’s administration said.

Aaran and Budhathoki, who are also conflict victims, had filed the same writ petitions at the Supreme Court last year but the administration had refused to register them claiming that the issue was related to transitional justice and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was dealing with the cases and the petitioners had already registered their cases at the commission.

However, the apex court had ordered its administration to register the writs on March 4.

On November 14 last year, the Court had also asked its administration to give clarifications for its refusal to register the petition against Dahal. A single bench of Acting Chief Justice Hari Krishna Karki had decided to seek a report on why the Supreme Court administration had refused to register the petitions filed by advocates Aaran and Budhathoki.

On January 15, 2020, while addressing a Maghi festival celebration event in Kathmandu, Dahal had said that he, as the leader of the Maoist party that led the decade-long insurgency, would take the responsibility for the deaths of 5,000 people and that the state should take responsibility for the remaining deaths.

It is estimated that around 17,000 people had lost their lives during the decade-long insurgency.