A court near Chennai today sentenced Nepali Maoist leader Chandra Prakash Gajurel to three years’ rigorous imprisonment for attempting to travel to London from Chennai airport in 2003 using a forged British passport.But as Gujarel, 57, had already spent 34 months in prison since his arrest on August 21, 2003, the court directed that the three-year sentence be set off against this period.This means that he would be in prison for two more months. But the Maoist leader has also been detained under the National Security Act since September 2005, and the one year detention expires only on September 18.After hearing submissions both from the Gujarel and his lawyer, Judicial magistrate Alandur A Paramaraj said the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt that he had committed offences under provisions of Sec. 12 of the Passports Act, 1967,sentenced him to three years in prison and a fine of Rs 5,000.The prosecution case had been that Gajurel tried to travel to London via Frankfurt on a Lufthansa flight from Chennai using a British passport issued to another individual, but pasted his own photograph on the passport to use it as his own.On a plea by Gujarel’s lawyer, C Vijayakumar, that the Court treat the imprisonment already undergone as the sentence, instead of ‘‘harassing” him for two more months, the magistrate said the prisoner would be entitled to remission as per government rules and recorded the same in his judgment.At 3 p.m., Gajurel, who had been detained at the Chennai Central Prison, was brought to the court in suburban Alandur under tight security. Members of the Revolutionary Youth Front, a pro-Maoist organisation, who gathered outside the Magistrate Court, raised slogans demanding Gajurel’s release.The magistrate asked for Gujarel’s submissions on the sentence to be awarded after he found that the prosecution had proved the offence beyond reasonable doubt. ‘‘My photograph was superimposed on a seized passport to foist this case,” the Maoist leader said, maintaining that the case had been ‘foisted’ on him by the then regime in Nepal, in view of the relationship it shared with King Gynanendra.Pleading for a mild sentence, Gajurel said the Nepal’s new Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala had urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his release during a state visit.‘‘The situation has changed in Nepal, with the monarchy almost overthrown and democratic rule restored,” he pointed out. Arguing his client’s case, Vijayakumar said the prosecution had in its charge-sheet accused Gajurel of heading to London only ‘‘to propagate against the monarchy and replace it with democratic rule.”The lawyer told the court that Gujarel had spent more than 33 months already in jail and his incarceration should not be extended by another two months.
