KATHMANDU – Nepal’s Supreme Court officials set up temporary tents on the court’s grounds on Sunday to start judicial hearings. This was a remarkable image of a country dealing with the repercussions of civil strife. This was the first day of work since the army lifted the curfew that had been in place for a week of huge protests that led to bloodshed and the removal of the previous K.P. Sharma Oli government.
Under the white tents with the words “Supreme Court Nepal” on them, staff personnel met with those who had cases to give them new dates for their court hearings. The temporary setup was very different from the destruction around it, which included a pile of burned cars and motorcycles in the midst of the court complex.
Purna Man Sakya, a prominent lawyer and former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, said that the Supreme Court complex was badly damaged. The fires destroyed records of at least 26,000 ongoing case files and 36,000 storage files. The courtrooms, the office of the registrar, and even the chambers of the judges and chief justice were all burned to the ground. Because of worries that the building would fall down, lawyers and court workers have been told not to go into the main building.
During a public speech on Sunday, Sushila Karki, the new temporary Prime Minister, admitted that the judicial loss had happened. She said that all records and papers had been deleted and that her government would have to “start rebuilding everything from scratch.”
Officials and lawyers are rushing to find a way to fill the urgent judicial gap. Kedar Prasad Koirala, the secretary general of the Nepal Bar Association and a senior attorney, said that the courts could not completely function, but essential matters would be heard in an undamaged annex building. “For now, it has been decided that judges will hear habeas corpus cases in the annex building that will be turned into courts,” he said, stressing the necessity to quickly deal with cases of illegal detentions that are likely to come up because of the recent events.
The bar and the bench met to come up with a plan to save the lost documents proactively. Sakya, a senior lawyer, said that lawyers with cases in the Supreme Court will be asked to send in photocopies of their case papers. The court’s permanent records will then be rebuilt using these photocopies.
An officer from the registrar’s office who was working under one of the tents told the police what happened. “The Registrar Office on the first floor was the first to be hit. Then the mob went up to the top floors and even set fire to the chief justice’s office. They put all the files and computers in one location and set them on fire. The official replied, “All court records are burned,” and they had to buy new registers only to write down the names of the people who came to ask for help.
By 2 p.m., at least 148 people had already gone to the makeshift tents, showing how much people needed court services right now. The incidents show how strong Nepal’s legal system is as it tries to bring order and justice back to the country after a week of never-before-seen upheaval.