Judge Khusi Prasad Tharu, one of those who acquitted former Nepali Congress lawmaker Aftab Alam in the high-profile 2008 Rautahat blast and murder case, was assaulted inside the court premises on Thursday.

Supporters of the Dharmendra Bastola-led Communist Party of Nepal (Majority) smeared black soot on Judge Tharu at the Birgunj-based temporary bench of the Janakpur High Court. Police confirmed that three individuals involved in the incident have been arrested.

Judge Tharu, along with Judge Arjun Maharjan, had delivered the May 28 ruling that overturned the Rautahat District Court’s life sentence verdict against Alam and three others.

The High Court cited insufficient evidence in acquitting the former minister, a decision that has sparked public outrage and protests from victims’ families and activists.

Alam was released from Nakkhu Jail on the same evening following the ruling.

Alam, his brother Mohammad Mahatab Alam, and two associates, Shekh Saraj and Badri Sahani, had been convicted of involvement in a deadly explosion and the murder of injured survivors by burning them alive in a brick kiln in Rajpur, Rautahat, during the run-up to the 2008 Constituent Assembly elections. The District Court had sentenced all four to life imprisonment in April 2024.

The case, long mired in political and judicial controversy, was reopened in 2019 following a Supreme Court directive and saw Alam imprisoned for nearly five years before his recent release.