President Ramchandra Paudel on Tuesday pardoned 670 convicts and those serving jail terms as per the government’s recommendation on the occasion of Constitution Day.

The government had presented a list for pardon including 670 prisoners who have completed 50 percent of their jail terms and demonstrated good behaviour as prisoners.

The list forwarded on the Cabinet’s recommendation has been approved by the President.

The Cabinet had made the recommendation per Article 276 of the Constitution of Nepal. The President may, under the law, grant pardons, suspend, commute or remit any sentence passed by any Court, judicial or quasi-judicial institution or administrative authority or institution, the article says.

There is a practice of pardoning inmates and convicts by the President, on the Cabinet's recommendation, on Republic Day, Constitution Day and during Dashain.

However, such decisions have got mired in controversy, time and again.The pardon granted by the then President Bidya Devi Bhandari in 2018 to Bal Krishna Dhungel, a murder convict, was heavily criticised. Similarly, President Paudel’s move to grant pardon to Resham Chaudhary, a convict in the 2015 Tikapur carnage, in May, too courted controversy.