Sushila Karki, Nepal’s first female Chief Justice and later interim Prime Minister, had a husband with a rather eventful past. Her husband, Durga Prasad Subedi, was a student at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and a young Nepali Congress leader. Subedi was one of the three individuals who hijacked a Royal Nepal Airlines plane in 1973. This incident involved Bollywood star Mala Sinha, who was also on the flight.
On June 10, 1973, Subedi and his two accomplices hijacked the plane, which was carrying 22 passengers. The motive behind the hijacking was to protest against King Mahendra’s rule and to raise funds for the Nepali Congress. The plane held government cash amounting to 32 lakh rupees, being transported from banks in Biratnagar, Nepal, to Kathmandu. Subedi and his associates diverted the plane to land in Forbesganj, Bihar.
This was the first instance of plane hijacking in Nepal. The aircraft landed in Forbesganj, Bihar. Individuals on the ground transported the cash-filled boxes via road to Darjeeling. The other two hijackers were Nagendra Dhungel and Basant Bhattarai. Girija Prasad Koirala and Sushil Koirala, who later became Prime Ministers of Nepal, were the masterminds behind the hijacking.
After the hijacking, Subedi remained in hiding in Varanasi but was arrested in 1975 during the Emergency. He was held in jail for two years before being handed over to Nepali authorities. The other hijackers were also convicted and imprisoned, but they were released after the Emergency in India was lifted. Professor Deepak Malik, a retired professor from BHU and former director of the Gandhi Studies Institute, mentioned that Karki and Subedi met during their time at the university.
Sushila, who is 73 years old, was also the first female Chief Justice of Nepal. She was born on June 7, 1952, in Biratnagar, Nepal. She became the Chief Justice of the Nepal Supreme Court on July 11, 2016. However, Karki’s tenure in this position lasted for approximately a year. On April 30, 2017, an impeachment motion was brought against her, and she was subsequently suspended from her position as Chief Justice.
In a television interview, Karki expressed that she considers herself a friend of India and credited her time at BHU for this relationship. Sushila Karki has a positive view of the relations between India and Nepal. She stated in the interview that she salutes Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She said that she has a good opinion of PM Modi. She added that we have not been in contact with India for many days. We will talk about this. When there is an international matter, between two countries, some people sit together and make policies.
