Kathmandu, September 29
The government has yet to officially explain why former Chief Justice Cholendra Rana was detained by police late Saturday night and released about 12 hours later.
Police took Rana into custody from his residence in Basbari shortly before midnight. According to his family members, police said they had to take him into protective custody because of a security threat from Gen Z protesters. However, police did not present an arrest warrant.
The absence of a warrant has raised questions over the legal basis for Rana’s detention. The main opposition Nepali Congress and other opposition parties have questioned the government over the incident.
The government has not publicly clarified the matter, while the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), which leads the government, has largely remained silent.
According to a lawmaker, there was an understanding at the leadership level that the issue would not be raised in Monday’s House of Representatives meeting. No formal circular was issued to lawmakers, but there was an informal understanding among senior leaders to remain silent on the matter, the lawmaker said.
Two RSP central members and lawmakers, Ranju Darshana and Rajiv Khatri, have publicly raised concerns about Rana’s detention, while senior party leaders have not commented.
Khatri criticised the manner in which Rana was detained, questioning how the alleged security threat had suddenly disappeared.
“How was the security threat against Cholendra resolved? We do not know,” Khatri said. “If a citizen feels insecure, it is the state’s responsibility to provide security. But the way the police picked him up from his home, almost like an abduction, was not right.”
Khatri said Rana’s past conduct could be questioned and investigated if there were legal grounds to do so.
“If there are questions about his conduct, ethics or finances, he should be investigated. Others accused of similar wrongdoing should also be investigated. But taking someone into custody at midnight without even providing an arrest warrant was wrong,” he said.
Khatri also compared the incident with the way former RSP chairman Rabi Lamichhane had been arrested by the previous government, saying the current government had displayed a similar approach in Rana’s case.
RSP central member Ranju Darshana also expressed dissatisfaction with the manner of Cholendra Rana’s detention.
“The law allows a person to be arrested when an offence has been committed. But even when making an arrest, the procedure has to be followed,” Darshana said.
“Even if the offence is not immediately visible, the law requires evidence. An allegation alone is not enough. There must be a basis and evidence to establish the offence. That is what the rule of law means. Powers can be exercised, but not without due process and evidence.”
RSP had previously questioned government actions
RSP lawmakers and leaders have previously criticised government actions through Parliament and social media, including the displacement of squatters and the use of vehicles outside media houses and residences of political leaders.
After vehicles were found parked outside media houses, political leaders’ residences and business premises in what were described as suspicious incidents, RSP general secretary Bipin Kumar Acharya had criticised the government.
The party said suspicious and unexplained activities aimed at intimidating media organisations and journalists or creating psychological pressure on them were a direct violation of democratic norms.
The RSP had called on the government to identify those involved and bring them within the scope of the law. Although the owners of some of the suspicious vehicles were identified, the government did not take legal action against anyone, according to the report.
RSP lawmakers had also criticised the government after squatters temporarily housed in Kirtipur were affected by flooding.
Chief whip Krantishikha Dhital had questioned the government at the time, asking whether the action was consistent with the party’s election manifesto and whether this was what a responsible state should look like.
Lawmakers including Indira Rana Magar and Ranju Darshana had also raised the issue.
However, lawmakers who had previously been vocal in questioning the government have largely remained silent over Rana’s detention.
Dhital did not raise the issue during Monday’s parliamentary meeting either. Instead, she praised Prime Minister Shah’s address to the United Nations General Assembly and the government’s preparedness ahead of recent floods and landslides.
Other lawmakers who spoke in the House on Monday, including RSP chief whip Kabindra Burlakoti, Manish Khanal, Ashish Gajurel, Khagendra Karn, Karishma Kathariya and Ashok Chaudhary, also did not raise the Cholendra Rana case.
RSP says Rana was taken into custody for his security
RSP spokesperson Jagadish Kharel said Rana was taken into custody because of a security threat and that Rana himself had subsequently requested additional security.
“After being taken home, he asked for additional security. The party’s understanding is also that security personnel took him into custody for his own protection,” Kharel told Onlinekhabar.
Kharel said he expected the Home Ministry to provide further clarification.
“The government needs to explain how and why he was detained. The Home Ministry can provide you with further clarification,” he said.
Opposition demands legal basis for detention
Opposition parties have strongly questioned the government over Cholendra Rana’s midnight detention.
The Nepali Congress, the main opposition party, has demanded an official explanation from the government and said it should make public the legal basis and justification for the detention.
Congress spokesperson Devraj Chalise said conflicting statements from government officials about the detention were a matter of serious concern.
“If the arrest was lawful, necessary and justified, the government should be able to make its clear legal basis and justification public,” Chalise said.
The Congress said that if Cholendra Rana was detained because of a specific security threat, the need for an investigation or another extraordinary circumstance, the state should provide credible grounds for such action.
The CPN-UML also said detaining the former chief justice without evidence or charges would constitute a serious violation of existing law and the justice system.
UML general secretary Shankar Pokhrel said the detention was contrary to the Constitution, democratic system and rule of law.
UML deputy general secretary Yogesh Bhattarai also questioned the legality of the midnight detention.
“The arrest of former Chief Justice Cholendra Rana is illegal and unjustified. The government must step back from such bizarre actions,” Bhattarai said.
Nepali Communist Party chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, another opposition leader, warned that the government would have to pay a heavy political price if it continued detaining prominent individuals without sufficient grounds.
Speaking to journalists at the Federal Parliament building in Singha Durbar on Monday, Prachanda said the government’s intentions could ultimately prove damaging to itself.
“The facts will gradually come out. Such intentions will be harmful to the government itself,” he said.
Prachanda also argued that citing a security threat as the reason for Rana’s detention was merely an excuse by the government.
The Rastriya Prajatantra Party has also demanded an explanation from the government.
RPP parliamentary party leader Gyanendra Shahi questioned why Cholendra Rana was released if he was guilty and why he was detained if he was not.
“If the former chief justice is guilty, why was he released? If he is innocent, why was he arrested?” Shahi asked Home Minister Sudan Gurung. “The Home Minister’s position is not for personal ego, anger or political arrangements. State power is not a children’s game.”
