[JURIST] A Nepal newspaper reported Tuesday that a blue-ribbon panel investigating possible human rights violations in the police response to anti-democracy protests [JURIST news archive] last spring that left 22 dead and more than 5,000 wounded will blame King Gyanendra for the crackdown. The report may undergo revisions before it is presented to the government Friday, but the current version reasons that because King Gyanendra chaired Nepal's council of ministers, he was legally responsible for the actions of the cabinet. Nepal's High Level Probe Commission [JURIST report], which was formed [JURIST report] by the interim government in Nepal [JURIST news archive], is led by a former supreme court justice and has the authority to interrogate officials, issue warrants, and make recommendations regarding actions which should be taken against rights abusers. King Gyanendra was stripped of control over the military [JURIST report] in September, after he was stripped of veto power [JURIST report] in June.

After the protests forced Gyanendra to cede control to a civilian government, Nepal's Interim Constitution Drafting Committee (ICDC) in August presented a draft constitution [JURIST report; PDF text, in Nepali] to government officials and Maoist rebel representatives participating in the negotiations. The interim draft encompassing 172 articles is designed to replace the current constitution [text] until a new representative body is elected and drafts a permanent constitution. Reuters has more. The Himalayan Times has local coverage.