Predictions: 1) Girija et al (all the Congressi netas) will say nothing against these charges. Removal of Gagan Thapa means less competition for all of them. It was Girija who unceremoniously threw out Gagan from his elected post for reasons Girija NEVER made public. 2) UML et al will say nothing too. 3) Lawyers at the Nepal Bar Association will say nothing. The new Chief Justice is already charming them by saying all the 'right' things. 4) Nepal's famously and sadly fractured human rights community members (MOST -- and NOT all (for there some really good people too) -- of whom are ex-political karya-kartas who, in their 30s and 40s, found nice well-paying and vaguely respectable NGO-ish jaagir in the human rights field) will say nothing against this charge-sheet. 5) Journalists will continue to report stories about Gagan -- but more as 'personality' stories in the vein of 'hey-he-is-my-friend-from-the-TC-days' than as serious, thoughtful and probing profiles. 6) Meantime, free speech continues to get assailed in Nepal. Surely, it's time to start an ACLU-style Nepal Civil Liberties Union, and raise strategic hell throughtout the world (by use of fund-raising, money, contacts and the media). Any takers? oohi ashu ************** Sedition charge filed against Gagan Thapa KOL Report KATHMANDU, Aug 14 - The government on Sunday filed a sedition charge sheet against Gagan Thapa, the former general secretary of Nepal Students Union at the Special Court for shouting anti-king slogans at one of the mass meetings held by a civic society recently. A three-year jail term and a fine of Rs 3000 have been demanded in the charge sheet filed against him as per clause 4 (1) of the Offence Against State Act-1989. (hb)