Kathmandu, January 26:

The Supreme Court today issued show cause notices to the government authorities, including Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet (PMO), seeking their written explanations within 15 days about the existence of a provision on corporal punishment in the Prison Act 1962.

A single bench of Justice Min Bahadur Rayamajhi issued the order responding to a writ petition filed by advocate Achyut Prasad Kharel. The bench also set a 15-day time frame to the authorities — the PMO, the Ministry of Home and Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and the Secretariat of the Legislature-Parliament — to submit their affidavits.

The petitioner claimed that Section 22 (2) of the Prison Act 1962 has adopted the corporal punishment against the Convention against Torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment (CAT) 1984 and the Article 26 (1) of the Interim Constitution 2007.