• Deploys security personnel at his official residence, court • Rana's kin call it 'house arrest'
KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 18
The government today deployed security personnel at the entrance of the Supreme Court and in front of suspended Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana's residence after he informed the Supreme Court administration that he would return to the court as impeachment motion filed against him had become redundant with the end of the House of Representatives' five-year tenure.
Rana had told media outlets that he would come to the SC at around 11:00am. Security personnel were deployed at the entrance of the SC from early morning to prevent Rana's entry. The Nepal Bar Association and the Supreme Court Bar Association, which had staged protests against Rana for weeks demanding his resignation, also deployed lawyers at the SC entrance to prevent Rana from entering the court in the morning. The government had deployed security personnel in front of Rana's official residence in Baluwatar as well. Rana later told media outlets that he could not go to the SC as he had been 'put under house arrest'.
Nepal Bar Association President Gopal Krishna Ghimire told mediapersons that they had called all the office bearers of NBA branches from Kathmandu valley to protest outside the SC gate and block Rana's entry. He said they postponed their protest after it was clear that Rana would not come to the court.
Former NBA president Chandeshor Shrestha told me diapersons that Rana must get clean chit from the HoR before resuming duty as the CJ. "The constitution stipulates that a person who faces impeachment motion in the House cannot do his/her job unless the House takes a call on the issue," he added. He said the report submitted by the Impeachment Recommendation Committee would be debated in the HoR after November 20 elections.
Senior Advocate Ram Narayan Bidari accused CPN- UML of protecting Rana in the name of procedural mistakes. "The HoR wrongly delayed the probe, but that does not mean the UML should protect him," he added.
Rana could not be contacted for his reaction. One of his relatives told THT on condition of anonymity that the government's restrictive actions against Rana were height of anarchy and people would punish it for injustice meted out to Rana. Asked if security personnel had restricted Rana's movement, the relative said they told Rana that he could venture out of home only in civil dress, and not the formal outfit he wore to the court. He was also told that only one PSO could accompany him.
Assistant Spokesperson for Nepal Police Senior Superintendent of Police Dan Bahadur Karki, however, said the number of police personnel deployed in and around Rana's residence increased today keeping in mind the security situation. He claimed no restriction of movement was imposed on Rana.
Spokesperson for the Parliament Secretariat Rojnath Pandey said Rana's suspension would continue. He said nowhere in the constitution was it mentioned that the impeachment motion would be rendered redundant with the end of the HoR's tenure.
A version of this article appears in the print on September 19, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
