Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
Claim
Patan High Court gives clean-chit to cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane by quashing the verdict of Kathmandu district court.
Fact
No, cricketer Lamichhane has not been acquitted, final hearing on the case is slated for April 22.
A video claiming that Nepali cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane, who has been convicted in a rape case by Kathmandu District Court, has been acquitted by Patan High Court, is going viral on TikTok.
Earlier on December 29, Kathmandu District Court convicted Lamichhane of raping an 18-year old girl and the court later sentenced him to eight years in jail. Asserting his innocence and challenging the verdict of district court, Lamichhne on February 29 filed an appeal at Patan High court. On the other hand, the office of the District Government Attorney has filed an appeal at the Patan High Court, seeking maximum punishment for Cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane in the rape case against him.
Against this backdrop, TikTok user @tufan7861 posted a video showing an old image of cricketer Lamichhane celebrating during a cricket match. Text superimposed on the video reads, “Breaking News, respect to the High court. Quashing the verdict of Kathmandu District Court, Patan High Court has given a clean-chit to Sandeep Lamichhane.”
The video posted on April 1 has garnered 8328 likes, 74 users have shared it and 229 people have commented until the time of publishing this article.
The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.
Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the veracity of the claim made in the viral video, Newscheker searched for the latest news reports regarding the case against Sandeep Lamichhane. A Google search by using relevant Nepali keywords led us to a freshly updated article, published on Deshsanchar online.
On checking the article dated April 19, we found that the Patan High Court has scheduled the final hearing on the case regarding cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane. Attorneys from both sides—plaintiff and defendant—have urged the court to prioritise the case, according to the artice.
Further, we reached out to Sandeep Lamichhane’s lawyer Saroj Krishna Ghimire, who told us that the final hearing on Sandeep Lamichhane’s case has been slated for Monday (April 22).
Thus, our findings clearly show that rape-convicted cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane has not been acquitted by Patan High Court as claimed in the viral video.
Conclusion
No, the Patan High Court has not granted clean-chit to cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane. The viral video is misleading.
Result: False
Sources
Deshsanchar online, April 19, 2024
Kredon online , June 19, 2023
Direct contact with Lamichhane’s lawyer Saroj Krishna Ghimire
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Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
