Kathmandu. The legal advisor of Bhutanese refugee leader Teknath Rijal has said that he will appeal against the district court’s verdict in the fake Bhutanese refugee case. Advocate Raj Kumar Suwal said that he was not satisfied with the verdict of the district court and said that he would go to the higher level court for justice.

Although Rijal was sentenced to two years in jail and fined Rs 20,000 for forgery of government documents and organized crime, Suwal claimed that there were many legal and practical errors in the verdict.

According to advocate Suwal, Rijal has no criminal motive in the case. He has argued that he had signed the membership card of his organization ‘Human Rights Organization’ while working for the rights of Bhutanese refugees and the management of the left out refugees.

“Signing the membership letter of any non-governmental organization cannot be an offense of forgery of government documents,” said Suwal, adding, “The gang has forged the fake identity card using the Home Ministry’s signature. ’

Advocate Suwal said that it was not justified to hold Rijal guilty as the court itself has accepted that Rijal has not made any financial gain or transaction. Recalling that it was Rijal who had raised voice against the scam in the beginning and informed the media, Suwal said, “It is ironic that the person who exposed this corruption case has been found guilty.” Since Rijal has been fighting the case on bail since the beginning, the legal way is open for him to proceed with the appeal process from outside.

Although the Kathmandu District Court had sentenced 16 people including former Deputy Prime Minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi and former home minister Bal Krishna Khand to jail and fine, Rijal’s lawyer said the verdict was just the beginning of legal process.

According to Suwal, Rijal was used by a gang of fraudsters to solve the problem of genuine Bhutanese refugees in Nepal. Advocate Suwal expressed confidence that Rijal would get clean chit from the High Court.