The Appellate Court in Surkhet has upheld Dailekh District Court’s decision to slap up to two-year jail term for murderers of journalist Dekendra Thapa. A division bench of Judges Rameshraj Bhandari and Rajendra Pokharel on Wednesday upheld the District Court’s decision after hearing arguments from the plaintiff and defendants. Both sides separately appealed to the Surkhet Appellate Court. The District Court on December 7, 2014, issued its verdict on the murder case. As per the Truth and Reconciliation Act and the Civil Code, the court sentenced Nirak Ghartimagar, Harilal Pun and Jaya Bahadur Shahi to two years in jail. Lakshiram Ghartimagar and Bir Bahadur KC were slapped one-and-a-half years and one-year jail terms, respectively. Four other accused--Bam Bahadur Khadka “Mukti”, Bam Bahadur Khadka “Arun”, Keshav Khadka and Bhakti Ram Lamichhane--are at large. Thapa’s widow Laxmi on January 28, 2013, had filed a case against nine district Maoist activists. The legal case was initiated five years after Laxmi lodged the complaint. Journalist Thapa was killed by the then Maoist rebels on August 2004. He had left the district headquarters to meet some rebel leaders and discuss matters related to the resumption of water supply, disconnected by the rebels, to the Dailekh town. He was captured on the way, tortured for days and buried alive.