<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161132/636d19aa9c7e80680e0ac831jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="699"/><figcaption>Illustration: Bhanu Bhattarai/Nepali Times Archive</figcaption></figure>Even though Nepal’s executive, legislative and bureaucratic arms suffer from over-politicisation, the judiciary and military have been relatively less affected. The current crisis in the Supreme Court has politicised the justice system and also dragged it into dysfunction.The Supreme Court has not held scheduled hearings, and courts across the country have been shut for three days after justices of the Supreme Court and the Nepal Bar Association called for boycotts demanding the resignation of Chief Justice Cholendra SJB Rana.Rana has more than a year left in his tenure, but has been embroiled in controversy after he allegedly lobbied for ministerial posts for a relative and crony in the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-govt-fills-cabinet-after-3-months/">coalition Cabinet of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba</a>.It was the Supreme Court’s verdict overturning the dissolution of the Lower House by previous prime minister K P Oli that <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-court-orders-deuba-to-succeed-oli/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">put Deuba in office</a> on 14 July, heading a five-party coalition. Deuba himself is also implicated in the scandal after he agreed to make Rana’s brother-in-law Gajendra Hamal a minister earlier this month. Hamal resigned three days later.Even though party leaders have in the past two decades often bent Nepal’s Supreme Court to suit their interests, by pressuring the prime minister to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/100-days/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">accept his own relative as minister</a>, Rana is seen to have crossed the red line and violated the doctrine of the separation of powers.Rana summoned other justices and lawyers on Tuesday and said that under no circumstances was he going to step down, and that he would rather face an impeachment motion in the House.However, there has been an intriguing silence from the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/who-wants-early-elections-and-why/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">top leadership</a> of the main parties about the fate of Chief Justice Rana. They seem to wish the problem will just go away, or Rana voluntarily resigns, so they do not have to take a stand.They do not want to annoy Rana because of the need to bargain over their own pending cases in the Supreme Court, but there is now intense pressure from the legal fraternity and the public to impeach him.Prime Minister Deuba of the Nepali Congress (NC) has not spoken in favour of impeachment, but is under pressure to do so from a rival faction within his own party. And even though it was Rana’s Supreme Court verdict that removed him from power in July, the UML’s K P Oli is against impeachment — saying that if Rana were to step down, five other justices who ruled against him should also resign.Others like Madhav Kumar Nepal of the United Socialists and Baburam Bhattarai of the Janata Samajbadi Party have cases pending in the Supreme Court in a real estate scam, and the Maoist Centre (MC) parliament speaker Agni Sapkota also has a war crime case against him.However, some have argued that the real issue here is separation of powers and stopping <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/fusion-of-powers,3760" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">political interference in the judiciary</a>, and the Supreme Court having to step in to resolve political deadlocks in the executive and legislative branches.By taking their disputes to the Supreme Court as arbiter of last resort, Nepal’s leaders have handed over crucial political decisions to the Chief Justice and his benches. So much so that the apex court has been deciding who forms a government and who doesn’t — an issue that should be resolved by party strength in Parliament.The only way to remove Rana would be if he is forced to resign, or if 25% of the House move an impeachment motion against him, although it will take a two-thirds majority to actually indict him.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/non-government-of-nepal/">Non-government of Nepal</a>, Sonia AwaleWith so much politics, corruption and vested interested tied up with the political appointment of justices, there are some who question whether just removing Chief Justice Rana will solve the problem, because the rot goes much deeper.Even if Rana is forced to resign or is impeached, he will be replaced by Dipak Kumar Karki. Those who would benefit from Karki’s elevation to Chief Justice can be seen to be pulling strings from behind the scenes, and suspicions have fallen on the Maoist Centre’s Pushpa Kamal Dahal who is said to be close to Karki. Dahal appears to be trying to do with Karki what he tried to do to with appointing Kul Bahadur Khadka as army chief in 2009.The irony is that the same NC, MC, and dissident UML members that praised Chief Justice Rana for <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/supreme-court-puts-nepal-politics-back-on-track/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">saving democracy twice this year</a> by his constitutional bench verdicts to restore the dissolved House, are now labelling Rana a villain. Oli’s UML criticised the Supreme Court heavily for that.The Maoists also vehemently opposed a Supreme Court decision in February to nullify the unity of the UML and Maoists to form the NCP, that Oli had welcomed.What all this shows is that politicians and their parties are wont to praise to high heavens justices when there is a decision in their favour, but berate the Supreme Court when it goes against their interest. That is what appears to be happening again: some parties want Rana to remain, while others want him to go.The only difference this time is that the anti-Rana forces in the judiciary, Bar and the government feel he went too far by allegedly lobbying for relatives and cronies to be included in the Cabinet. Even if he did talk the prime minister into agreeing to make his brother-in-law a minister, Deuba should have rejected it outright as interference.Instead, Deuba and Dahal both clarified that Hamal had been made minister from the NC quota and did not say anything about pressure from the chief justice. Why were Deuba and his coalition partners so eager to make Hamal a minister?  Was it because they wanted to keep Chief Just Rana in the good books to extract their pounds of flesh in future verdicts in cases involving them?Cholendra SJB Rana is Nepal’s 29th chief justice, but not the first to be embroiled in controversy. Even Sushila Karki, known for her firebrand independence, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2017/05/01/lady-justice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">faced an impeachment motion </a>by a NC-Maoist coalition government in 2017 because she did not agree to pass verdicts that favoured them on the appointment of a police chief.In fact it was Rana who trashed  that impeachment motion against Karki, saying it went against the spirit of the Constitution to file a the motion against the chief justice on such partisan grounds.There is a lot of politics tied up with whether Rana remains chief justice or is forced to step down. On 1 November, the Supreme Court is due to hear a case against Madhav Kumar Nepal and Baburam Bhattarai on the Baluwatar real estate scandal. Some see the magnified criticism of Rana as a way to put pressure on him to rule in their favour.It is clear that Rana’s departure will not be enough to herald a golden age of justice in Nepal. The same forces in the executive and judiciary that were <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/quid-pro-quo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">scratching each others’ backs</a> will still be up to their old tricks. Rana is not coming out of this smelling like roses, but neither are many of the other justices who want him to resign, nor the politicians who benefited from their appointments.It is now important that the political parties and justices who are at the root of this crisis vow not to violate the constitutionally-enshrined <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-govt-fills-cabinet-after-3-months/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">separation of powers</a>. This should not be about using Chief Justice Rana as a bargaining chip, but an opportunity to conduct far-reaching reforms within the judiciary.The boycott by lawyers and judges on Thursday affected hearings across the country and delayed justice being served. Urgent cases like those of habeas corpus have been left in limbo.Says ex-justice Prakash Wasti: “The ball is in the court of the Nepal’s politicians, whether to make the courts a place where justice is served, or where they serve themselves.”Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/political-expediency-trumps-nepal-constitution/">Political expediency trumps Nepal Constitution,</a> Santa Gaha Magar

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What is happening to Nepal’s Supreme Court?

<img width="1618" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bf0184b0ad905ca02efeejpeg.jpg" alt=""/>How Chief Justice Cholendra Rana decides on Wednesday to deal with the 13 writ petitions against Prime Minister K P Oli’s <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/i-had-no-other-option-pm-oli/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dissolution of the Lower House</a> will determine the next direction in Nepal’s fluid political crisis.Rana can decide to hear the cases under a single bench presided over by himself, or order that the petitions be tried in a ‘constitutional bench’. Either way, the ball is in the Supreme Court and more specifically with Chief Justice Rana. If the bench rules that PM Oli’s dissolution of the Lower House was unconstitutional, it will pave the way for its reinstatement where there is a vote of no confidence pending against the prime minister. But if it decides that the Supreme Court should stay out of the current dispute because it is a political matter, then it will set a judicial precedent for the coming years.“What the court rules will be historic one way or other, and it will have a lasting impact on Nepal’s political system,” says retired Supreme Court Justice Girish Chandra Lal. “It is also an opportunity for the Supreme Court to establish its independence and prestige, or it can take the wrong decision and derail democracy.” There are indications that Chief Justice Rana sees eye-to-eye with Prime Minister Oli. Rana was present at the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/over-the-edge-again/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Constitutional Council meeting last week</a> after Oli got President Bidya Devi Bhandari to sign off on an <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-pm-oli-goes-it-alone/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ordinance</a> to change the law on its quorum. That meeting made 45 appointments to various constitutional bodies.Rana recently had a run-in with Pushpa Kamal Dahal after a written statement presented at the NCP Secretariat meeting on 12 December by Dahal, accused Oli of have secretly met with Rana at his official residence to plan a dissolution of the Lower House and to declare a state of emergency.Faced with a possible contempt of court case, Dahal later backed down and got the Secretariat to issue a statement saying that the allegation about the Oli-Rana meeting to plan to dissolve the house was ‘based on outside reports’, and he did not want to cast aspersions on the Supreme Court.  <figure><img width="1734" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bf01b4b0ad905ca02efefjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Chief Justice Cholendra SJB Rana (left), Prime Minister Oli (centre) and Upper House Chair Ganesh Timilsina (right) at a meeting of the Constitutional Council on 15 December, after the ordinance that allows a smaller quorum. Photo: PMO</figcaption></figure>Whether or not Oli and Rana met in Baluwatar, there is a widespread perception that there is an unnatural closeness between the two, says another former Justice, Gauri Bahadur Karki: “The court should not be influenced by politics.”  On the other hand, the Supreme Court and Chief Justice Rana, in particular, could also be swayed by the strong condemnation in Nepal’s public sphere against Prime Minister Oli’s dissolution of the Lower House. Which is why what the Supreme Court decides in the coming days is so crucial. This is not the first time that a House dissolution writ is being heard in Nepal’s Supreme Court. In 1995 then Chief Justice Bishwanath Upadhyay had ruled that Prime Minister Manmohan Adhikari’s dissolution of the House was unconstitutional even though the Constitution at the time had given the prime minister the automatic right to do so. The 2015 Constitution is much more categorical in not giving the head of the government that right.  In 1994, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala had also dissolved the House after a rival faction of the Nepali Congress voted against his government, leading to early elections in which the UML came to power. PM Oli’s move on 20 December to dissolve the House and call snap polls in April-May next year has been followed by tit-for-tat dismissals of functionaries by the two factions of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP). Nepal is now ruled under a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/ncp-headed-for-messy-divorce/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">one-party two Central Committees system.</a> On Tuesday, PM Oli as ‘first Chair’ called a meeting of the Party Central Committee and swore in 447 new members into the party, appointed Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali as party spokesperson in place of Narayan Kaji Shrestha, but kept arch-rival Pushpa Kamal Dahal in the party. Later in the day, the rival faction held its own Central Committee meeting in which it decided to take disciplinary action against Oli and relieved him from party chairmanship, replacing him with former prime minister and Dahal loyalist, Madhav Kumar Nepal. It also decided to re-instate former Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara, who resigned in disgrace last year after allegations of raping a colleague.  The political feud in the NCP in the federal legislature is also trickling down to the provincial governments, where four chief ministers regarded as being close to Prime Minister Oli are facing challenges in the assemblies from the Dahal-Nepal lawmakers. The Election Commission will now have to decide which faction can use the NCP label and election symbol, based on which side has a majority in the party working committee. Prime Minister Oli also met the Election commissioners on Tuesday, where they are reported to have proposed a single phase poll to save money in May 2021.

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Nepal’s 1-Party-2-Central Committees system

<img width="1618" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181152/636be9299c7e80680e0878a5jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>How Chief Justice Cholendra Rana decides on Wednesday to deal with the 13 writ petitions against Prime Minister K P Oli’s <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/i-had-no-other-option-pm-oli/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dissolution of the Lower House</a> will determine the next direction in Nepal’s fluid political crisis.Rana can decide to hear the cases under a single bench presided over by himself, or order that the petitions be tried in a ‘constitutional bench’. Either way, the ball is in the Supreme Court and more specifically with Chief Justice Rana. If the bench rules that PM Oli’s dissolution of the Lower House was unconstitutional, it will pave the way for its reinstatement where there is a vote of no confidence pending against the prime minister. But if it decides that the Supreme Court should stay out of the current dispute because it is a political matter, then it will set a judicial precedent for the coming years.“What the court rules will be historic one way or other, and it will have a lasting impact on Nepal’s political system,” says retired Supreme Court Justice Girish Chandra Lal. “It is also an opportunity for the Supreme Court to establish its independence and prestige, or it can take the wrong decision and derail democracy.” There are indications that Chief Justice Rana sees eye-to-eye with Prime Minister Oli. Rana was present at the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/over-the-edge-again/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Constitutional Council meeting last week</a> after Oli got President Bidya Devi Bhandari to sign off on an <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-pm-oli-goes-it-alone/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ordinance</a> to change the law on its quorum. That meeting made 45 appointments to various constitutional bodies.Rana recently had a run-in with Pushpa Kamal Dahal after a written statement presented at the NCP Secretariat meeting on 12 December by Dahal, accused Oli of have secretly met with Rana at his official residence to plan a dissolution of the Lower House and to declare a state of emergency.Faced with a possible contempt of court case, Dahal later backed down and got the Secretariat to issue a statement saying that the allegation about the Oli-Rana meeting to plan to dissolve the house was ‘based on outside reports’, and he did not want to cast aspersions on the Supreme Court.  <figure><img width="1734" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181152/636be92c9c7e80680e0878a6jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Chief Justice Cholendra SJB Rana (left), Prime Minister Oli (centre) and Upper House Chair Ganesh Timilsina (right) at a meeting of the Constitutional Council on 15 December, after the ordinance that allows a smaller quorum. Photo: PMO</figcaption></figure>Whether or not Oli and Rana met in Baluwatar, there is a widespread perception that there is an unnatural closeness between the two, says another former Justice, Gauri Bahadur Karki: “The court should not be influenced by politics.”  On the other hand, the Supreme Court and Chief Justice Rana, in particular, could also be swayed by the strong condemnation in Nepal’s public sphere against Prime Minister Oli’s dissolution of the Lower House. Which is why what the Supreme Court decides in the coming days is so crucial. This is not the first time that a House dissolution writ is being heard in Nepal’s Supreme Court. In 1995 then Chief Justice Bishwanath Upadhyay had ruled that Prime Minister Manmohan Adhikari’s dissolution of the House was unconstitutional even though the Constitution at the time had given the prime minister the automatic right to do so. The 2015 Constitution is much more categorical in not giving the head of the government that right.  In 1994, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala had also dissolved the House after a rival faction of the Nepali Congress voted against his government, leading to early elections in which the UML came to power. PM Oli’s move on 20 December to dissolve the House and call snap polls in April-May next year has been followed by tit-for-tat dismissals of functionaries by the two factions of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP). Nepal is now ruled under a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/ncp-headed-for-messy-divorce/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">one-party two Central Committees system.</a> On Tuesday, PM Oli as ‘first Chair’ called a meeting of the Party Central Committee and swore in 447 new members into the party, appointed Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali as party spokesperson in place of Narayan Kaji Shrestha, but kept arch-rival Pushpa Kamal Dahal in the party. Later in the day, the rival faction held its own Central Committee meeting in which it decided to take disciplinary action against Oli and relieved him from party chairmanship, replacing him with former prime minister and Dahal loyalist, Madhav Kumar Nepal. It also decided to re-instate former Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara, who resigned in disgrace last year after allegations of raping a colleague.  The political feud in the NCP in the federal legislature is also trickling down to the provincial governments, where four chief ministers regarded as being close to Prime Minister Oli are facing challenges in the assemblies from the Dahal-Nepal lawmakers. The Election Commission will now have to decide which faction can use the NCP label and election symbol, based on which side has a majority in the party working committee. Prime Minister Oli also met the Election commissioners on Tuesday, where they are reported to have proposed a single phase poll to save money in May 2021.

<figure><img width="1400" height="1129" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110811110/636a29249c7e80680e0458acjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Diwakar Chettri</figcaption></figure>While a debate about equal citizenship rights for women raged in Parliament this week, single women who survived the earthquake are quietly and bravely struggling against deep-rooted patriarchy to rebuild homes and carrying on with their lives.On International Women’s Day, this illustration by Diwakar Chhetri shows where Nepali women are today: their responsibilities have increased and so have their capacities and achievements. But they continue to face impediments from all sides, most glaringly from the state.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/staying-alive/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Staying alive</a>, Sewa Bhattarai<a style="background-color: #ffffff; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepals-better-halves/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal's better halves</a>, Anil ChitrakarSince the mid-1990s female literacy in Nepal has doubled, and this has brought far-reaching changes that have ultimately empowered women. Employment and property ownership rates, and maternal and neonatal health have dramatically improved – all because women were more aware about health and rights.There has also been progress in politics, the economy, and sports. Not so long ago, the Chief Justice, Speaker of the Parliament and President of Nepal were all women and at the same time. We have also had one of the most inclusive parliaments in history in terms of gender. Most municipalities in Nepal have proactive female deputy mayors.Read also: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/a-house-for-the-nepali-family/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The house for the Nepali family</a>, Sewa Bhattarai<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/making-gods-for-a-living/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Making gods for a living</a>, Sonia Awale<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/surviving-the-aftermath/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Surviving the aftermath</a>, Sonam Choeyki Lama<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/staying-positive/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Staying positive</a>, Sewa Bhattarai Nepal’s National Women Cricket team returned home this week after clinching second position in the World Cup Asia Region Qualifier in Thailand. Not long ago, our women’s blind cricket team won the First International Women’s Blind Cricket Series in Pakistan. Nepal’s women football team was second runner-up at the Gold Cup in India last month.The outflow of men for overseas work has had many consequences, and the most notable is the feminisation of rural Nepal. With the men away, women have taken charge both in their homes and communities. They have decision making power in the management of schools and health posts, in community forestry and irrigation. It won’t be too far-fetched to say that much of the credit for ground-level development, despite the absence of local government for 20 years, goes to women. And now that we have local governments it is women who are standing up to corrupt male counterparts in some municipalities.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-kathmandus-past-for-the-future/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Saving Kathmandu's past for future</a>, Sonia AwaleTo be sure, not everything is rosy. Juggling their dual roles of breadwinner and primary care givers in homes and raising children has increased their burden. This inequitable distribution of work is more prominent in urban areas where women have both careers and homes to make. Men and society in general have been slow to accept these changes, and see the economic benefits of shared responsibility at home and office.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/learning-about-teaching/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Learning about teaching</a>, Prakriti KandelAmong survivors of the 2015 earthquake, women were more affected. There are an estimated 2,000 earthquake widows and 50,000 single women whose houses collapsed in the disaster. In lack of reliable support, reconstruction and survival has been more difficult for them as reported in this issue. But despite these shortcomings, women are going boldly forth where men have gone before in rebuilding lives and homes.We have produced some of the finest females doctors, pilots, engineers, artists, teachers and historians in the past few decades. But despite the fact that for the first time FNCCI is headed by a woman, and 80% of Nepal’s labour force is female (one of the highest proportions in the world) women continue to be restricted to ‘informal sectors’. Though there are higher numbers of women in politics today than ever before, there are still very few in leadership positions. Despite women heading all three organs of the government, the legislative, judiciary and executive at one point, there are still too few actual decision-makers to exert enough influence. This has led to situations like the current citizenship debate, where a male MP this week said providing citizenship to the children of rape victims will encourage rape.Clearly, higher literacy has not led to behaviour change among males in our conservative culture that sees women as an inferior gender. Given opportunity, women have proved themselves time and again and prevailed despite roadblocks and limitations. All they need now is a little help from institutions like the state and family to remove the obstacles that impede progress.

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One smoggy winter morning in February 2019, Ekta regretted coming to her sculpture class. It was the first day of her period, and the 19-year-old wished she was home, curled up in bed with a hot water bag to soothe her cramps.
Her class was at Kalapremi Ceramic Studio, a dark room on the ground floor of a house in Maharajganj, and Ekta’s teacher was the artist Gopal Das Shrestha ‘Kalapremi’, a noted sculptor.
Two other students were already there, using all their muscle strength to knead the sculpting clay. Ekta, now 24, recalls how Kalapremi asked her if she was feeling all right. She avoided him, as she did not want everyone to know she was menstruating.
Kalapremi repeatedly asked Ekta what was wrong. She finally muttered that she was having her period, after which he grabbed her hand and led her to a partitioned corner of the studio and sat her on a chair. Before she could stop him, he slid his hand under her dress, and started massaging her abdomen.
“I was horrified,” Ekta recalls. “I told him to stop, but he didn’t listen, asking me not to be shy, saying he knew how to relieve my pain. He stopped only after I protested furiously.”&nbsp;
The art tutor then said, “You’re like my daughter. I’m doing it out of love to make you feel better, but you’re so stubborn.”&nbsp;
“Instead of saying sorry he acted like I was the one having crazy thoughts,” remembers Ekta, adding that from April 2016 to August 2020 beginning the time she was 16, the artist sexually abused and harassed her on several occasions. &nbsp;
Now, Ekta and the artist’s other former students are finally sharing their experiences and some are pressing legal charges against him, hoping that others do not have to endure what they did.&nbsp;
Award-winning artist and teacher Gopal Das Shrestha ‘Kalapremi’ (the name means ‘Art Lover’) is known for his ceramic art, sculpture, and contemporary pottery. He was <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/the-house-of-kalapremi">profiled in Nepali Times after a collaborative exhibition</a>, ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ at the Siddhartha Art Gallery three years ago.&nbsp;
His pieces, titled Gaalis, featured sculpted female figures with the heads of dogs, sheep, and donkeys (pictured) to depict derogatory terms for women. Some critics said the collection was a satire on feminists.
Kalapremi started his artistic and teaching career in 1983 and over the years taught at Bhanubhakta School, Kathmandu University School of Arts, Lalitkala Campus and at his private Kalapremi Ceramic Studio. He has also lectured at Jeonju University in South Korea and recently at Tabor Academy in the United States.
Seven of Kalapremi’s former students were interviewed for this story. Five female students said he touched them inappropriately in his studio or at Kathmandu University. Two male students said they witnessed him abuse and harass the women. In all cases, the students struggled to recognise the abuse when it occurred, and the lack of reporting systems left them to cope on their own for years.&nbsp;
Earlier this year, students shared a social media post hinting at Kalapremi’s history of abusive behaviour following which more students of the artist reached out sharing similar experiences. Some students spoke of abuse that happened as long as 20 years ago.
Kalapremi, 60, has denied the allegations. He told Nepali Times: “Some years ago, there was a movement encouraging people to hug and kiss. I used to do it purely out of friendship and love. But after seeing posts on social media last year calling out my behaviour, I realised my actions may have hurt some people. I understand now that I should have been more mindful.”
He added: “I am also an auxiliary health worker, so I know the exact points to massage to relieve menstrual pain. It’s not just menstruation, I take anyone who is ill to the hospital.”
Sexual abuse is much more rampant than reported given how difficult it is to prove it in court. The law defines sexual abuse as occuring when someone touches another’s private parts, coerces them into touching theirs, uses vulgar language, shows degrading images, or behaves indecently towards them without consent.&nbsp;
Ekta and her fellow students are consulting lawyer Suneeta Regmi Pokhrel, who says they know that even if the court decides in their favour, it is difficult to survive after speaking up, and influential men defend themselves saying they are being framed.&nbsp;
“They are in a lot of pain and weep when recalling how he abused them,” Regmi Pokhrel told us. “They are angry and have filed a case against him, but they are also terrified. They know he is a powerful man and they have seen how our society treats women who speak up against abusers. Unless people speak up, perpetrators will be emboldened.”
Art and academia in Nepal simply reflect the power imbalances in society where people with intersecting identities experience worse forms of abuse. Theatre actors Raj Kumar Pudasaini, Rajan Khatiwada, and Sunil Pokhrel were called out during the #MeToo movement in the Nepali theatre scene in 2019. Even after the allegations Pokhrel went on to receive national awards, while others continued to work without repercussions.
“If you speak up against abusers, you gradually get sidelined from projects,” explained a theatre artist who wished anonymity fearing professional setbacks. “The theatre scene in Nepal is quite small, you just have to make peace with the perpetrators and work with them if you want to sustain yourself.”&nbsp;
In academia there is a history of faculty members sexually harassing students and getting away with it. After Tribhuvan University (TU) lecturer Krishna Bhattachan was accused of harassing women students, the university said it would follow Nepal’s sexual harassment law and set up a reporting mechanism. But nothing happened to the professor, who had already retired. Instead, he counter-accused the students of 'attacking the indigenous people’s movement with baseless allegations' as <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/letters/2019/01/29/bhattachan-responds">he told the Kathmandu Post in 2019</a>. He continues to be featured as a prominent speaker including at TU.
Other faculty members previously accused of sexual harassment include Jagadish Murti Koirala from TU, Bishnu Prasad Acharya from Ratna Rajya Campus, and Bodha Raj Tripathee from Lalitpur Madhyamik Vidhyalaya. A woman staff member from TU also filed a sexual abuse complaint against Dambar Chemjong from TU.
Prominent figures like <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-rise-and-fall-of-nims-purja">mountaineer Nims Purja</a> have been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/31/sports/mountaineering-sexual-harassment-abuse-nims-purja.html">accused of sexual assault</a>, and cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane, actor <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/celebrity-rape-case-spotlights-nepal-laws">Paul Shah</a>, and former speaker of Parliament <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mahara-arrested">Krishna Bahadur Mahara</a> have been accused of rape, but society-at-large has let off the alleged perpetrators amdist a larger debate about justice for survivors and punishment of perpetrators.&nbsp;
‘Gaushala-26’ is the court name given to the 18-year-old who accused Sandeep Lamichhane, former captain of Nepal’s national cricket team and skipper of Biratnagar Kings in the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/here-comes-the-nepal-premier-league">ongoing Nepal Premier League</a>, of rape. She left the country citing society questioning her character affecting her mental health while Lamichhane got an outpouring of support. In May, the Patan High Court overturned a prior verdict that found Lamichhane guilty of rape and had sentenced him to eight years in prison. During the 23-month legal battle to pursue justice, Gaushala-26 faced threats of gang rape and acid attacks.&nbsp;
Exhausted by the struggle, Gaushala-26 sought to “move to a new world” where she could live free without hiding her identity.
Actress Samragyee Rajya Laxmi Shah in an Instagram video now deleted detailed the harassment she faced from a filmmaker during a movie shoot. She did not name any name but veteran actor Bhuwan KC filed a defamation case against Rana, but the court ruled that the charge lacked sufficient evidence.&nbsp;
Former Kathmandu mayor <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/theytoo">Keshav Sthapit also mocked the #MeToo movement</a>, calling accusations against him by journalists Rashmila Prajapati and Ujjwala Maharjan “a rape of men’s rights”.
Serial Abuse
Back at the Kalapremi Ceramics studio, another former student, 24-year-old Rajiv, says he felt the need to speak out after seeing his female classmates being abused.&nbsp;
“He frequently kissed them on their cheeks,” he told Nepali Times. “Whenever they walked into the studio he flailed his arms like a child asking for a hug. They awkwardly hugged him from the side, but he pulled them closer, held their chin, and kissed their cheeks.”&nbsp;
Rajiv says he also saw Kalapremi pull the women’s bra straps, touch their breasts, and slap their buttocks. The young students would freeze, not knowing how to react, and if they protested, he would say it was “normal in art”. Rajiv, 19 at the time like his classmates, remembers thinking perhaps the well-respected artist was right after all.
Another student, Luna, who took lessons at Kalapremi’s studio from 2020 to 2022 did try to confront the tutor after he made an obscene proposal to her. She recalls: “One day when the other students had left the studio and it was just the two of us, he told me that God had given him special artistic talent and he could transfer those powers to me. But to do that both of us will have to be naked, inside a dark room, and have sex.”
Luna, who was 18 then, was livid and told him she did not want any of his powers, but she says he laughed at her as if he was joking. She did not tell her family about the incident because she thought no one would believe her.&nbsp;
“They were all in awe of this famous artist and felt I should be grateful that to be learning sculpting from him,” she says. “I was scared to be alone with him in case he talked about sex again. My coping mechanism was to be rude so he wouldn’t try to come close to me.”
Seeing how some classmates were standing up to Kalapremi, Ekta too tried to push back against his advances, but she said he found ways to coerce her. Since Ekta, Rajiv, and Luna could not afford Kalapremi’s Rs30,000 monthly fee for lessons, he had offered them all a stipend to assist him in the studio.
“He had spondylosis and took me to his therapy sessions to learn massage techniques, then he often made me and other students massage him,” says Ekta. Whenever she refused, he would feign pain to make her feel sorry for him. “He would insist that I put my hands under his shirt so that I could massage him better,” she adds.
The art tutor often tried to “seduce sympathy” from Ekta by sharing how he had never been loved as a child and was “sexually frustrated” as an adult.&nbsp;
“At 7PM, he would pour himself Signature whiskey and immediately go off again about how he was sex-starved. I didn’t know how to respond. It took me time to realise alcohol was just an excuse to talk about sex,” Ekta says.
If convicted, Kalapremi could face financial penalty and/or a prison sentence of up to three years according to Section 224 of National Penal (Code) Act 2017.&nbsp;
Data suggests that victims of child sexual abuse on average take nearly 24 years to tell someone about their trauma, and some may never disclose it at all.&nbsp;
“In our culture, children are rarely taught about boundaries. They often react, show anger when adults pinch their cheeks. But adults insist they did it out of love, and force the children to accept it,” says Sita Lama, a psychotherapist at Manka Kura. “And even when someone touches them inappropriately they struggle to identify and verbalise it.”
When perpetrators claim to be “acting out of love”, Lama says survivors are likely to perceive it as something safe, rather than recognising it as abuse.&nbsp;
“It may take years for them to realise they were abused,” she explains. "And even when they become aware, the power imbalance with the abuser and the associated shame often prevents survivors from speaking up."
Other former students from the School of Art at Kathmandu University have also come forward years later, saying Kalapremi sexually abused them. As young adults, they felt his behaviour was off but were uncertain if it was inappropriate, illegal, or they did not know how to respond. After having understood that it was indeed abuse, they say they are speaking out now to protect others.&nbsp;
Amina Singh, a visiting faculty member at Kathmandu University, says there is no clause against sexual abuse in contracts of teachers, and there is no formal grievance handling mechanism for the students.&nbsp;
“So the only way students can to deal with sexual abuse is approach someone they trust,” she says.
Eight other former art students of Lalit Kala Campus and Srijana College of Fine Arts of Tribhuvan University and other private art studios in Kathmandu say they were also sexually abused by their art teachers. Three faculty members interviewed from these institutions said they saw the abuse, but felt it was futile to report it given how powerful the teachers were.
In the absence of a formal system, some longtime women artists warned each other about “problematic” artists. They shared &nbsp;a “heads-up” to be more cautious when collaborating with them, and avoided responding to their calls and texts after work hours.
To ensure art institutions are safe for all, galleries, museums, artist studios, and smaller art spaces need to develop policies on sexual harassment. This would include a code of conduct or studio policies that hold the leadership accountable and outline the principles of professional ethics.&nbsp;
Students and employees should inquire about accountability mechanisms for raising concerns, both formally and informally, advocates say.
Three years after Ekta left the ceramics studio, she learnt that Kalapremi had harassed many other women. Still trying to get a footing in the art industry, she attended a workshop in Kathmandu where women artists discussed ways to stay safe in the art sector.&nbsp;
Since it was a close-knit group Ekta opened up about how she felt violated and realised she was not alone, he had been abusing underprivileged students for years, and this was common knowledge among artists in Nepal.
Ekta says that even after she quit, Kalapremi continued sending her text messages like ‘I am thinking of you’, ‘Why have you stopped speaking with me’, or ‘I am waiting for your call’.&nbsp;
But what really forced her to act was when Ekta found out that he was sending similar texts to her younger sister.&nbsp;
“I’ve had enough,” she told us. “He abused me all these years but I won’t let him abuse my sister.” &nbsp;
Ekta, Rajiv and Luna are not the real names of the students.&nbsp;

‘Art Lover’ accused of sexual abuse

It was 8:15 in the evening of 25 March 1968 when everyone in the village of Batulechaur near Pokhara heard a deafening sound like thunder as a bright flashing object hurtled down to land in a field.&nbsp; That field belonged to Kul Timilsina, and the next morning he retrieved a sheet of metal about 2m by 1m and carried it home with the help of a few others, thinking it would be useful for his buffalo shed.&nbsp; Before he died at age 83 three years ago, Timilsina had told photo archivist Sunil Ulak that the black metal sheet was not rectangular and had rounded corners. There are a few witnesses still alive who have a clear recollection of the object that fell from the sky that night.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024120707128_75cc85aac56b9cc4a77366471f058d7b3eb6868776811b0923845c2d0a61f014.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2024120707128_75cc85aac56b9cc4a77366471f058d7b3eb6868776811b0923845c2d0a61f014" data-rendition-name="original" width="1170" height="601" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>The field in Batulechaur belonging to Kul Timilsina where fragments of a flying object fell from the sky in 1968.</figcaption> </figure>  One of them is Timilsina’s wife Gyanu, who was 22 at the time. She had been at home, and remembers hearing the big bang and the sky becoming very bright. “We saw the thing in the field in the morning,” she told us. “It looked like a lid, a covering of some sort. The way it was stuck in the ground, it must have fallen from the sky. We thought we could use it to dry clothes on, and took it home.”&nbsp; Another witness is Kul Narayan Paudel. “I was only eight then. We ran to the field to see what had fallen. It was a four-sided metal sheet. The elders took it away, and I don't know what happened to it.” &nbsp; Ram Bahadur Baniya, a teacher at the local school, says he had heard the sheet had been brought to the school, and later handed over to the Zonal Commissioner at the time, Nanda Prasad Malla. “But that is all hearsay,” he says.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024120707128_0bf207a12063fb8155b3c8d9a00a94887b126380c9e0627527c84cf5e1101f54.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024120707128_0bf207a12063fb8155b3c8d9a00a94887b126380c9e0627527c84cf5e1101f54" data-rendition-name="original" width="1170" height="610" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>Gyanu Timilsina, wife of Kul Timilsina.</figcaption> </figure>  There are two versions of what happened to Kul Timilsina’s metal sheet. One is that an American Peace Corp Volunteer teaching at the nearby Bindyabasini School took it, and another is that it was handed over to the government. Recently declassified Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and US State Department documents from the time say that the US Embassy in Kathmandu tracked down the object two years later and had it shipped back to the US. A telegram from the Department of State and Department of Defense tagged as ‘MOON DUST / Space Fragments’ dated 1 March 1972 stated: ‘1. Restored space fragment will be on board Embassy support flight 115 arriving Kathmandu on or about March 10. Fragment is packed in shipping crate (cargo no. 72-33365) marked in care of DAO.&nbsp; 2. State and Defense representatives examined fragments prior to shipment finding restoration acceptable.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071212_929d903ee06d41baa4f6040e981cd7c7d7bd75cc9c37c9b617d307fc8538d2df.png" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241207071212_929d903ee06d41baa4f6040e981cd7c7d7bd75cc9c37c9b617d307fc8538d2df" data-rendition-name="original" width="856" height="568" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>Declassified CIA documents about the investigation into the object sighted in Pokhara. </figcaption> </figure>  The documents show that the US government, military and intelligence agencies investigated this incident thoroughly when it occurred, and have continued to revisit it ever since, as recently as five years ago. What is even more intriguing is that the object that fell in Pokhara was not the only unidentified space object that fell to earth that year. There were similar sightings of objects falling from the sky in Ladakh, Sikkim and Bhutan between 19 February and 25 March 1968.&nbsp; These mysteries were the subject of a CIA investigation in 1968 titled ‘<a href="https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP81R00560R000100070007-8.pdf">Sighting of Unidentified Flying Objects in Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan</a>’, and the report is part of the recent online declassification of 800,000 top-secret documents from the period.&nbsp; &nbsp;Although unidentified flying objects (UFOs) have a connotation now of being alien craft, it could be pieces of satellite, missile, rocket or even aircraft. The CIA report documents six sightings in 1968 and quotes local sources as describing all of them having similar characteristics: bright blue or red streaks in the sky accompanied by loud sounds like lightning and thunder and objects falling to the ground. Aside from the metallic object that was found in Batlechaur, there were other items also found nearby in Tallakot, Tureypasal, Armalakot and Maidan. Whatever the object was, it seems to have disintegrated even before it hit the ground.&nbsp; The CIA report records the first sighting on 19 February 1968 in various parts of Sikkim and Olangchung Gola and Ghunsa in eastern Nepal. The light was said to be ‘long and thin’ and giving out ‘green and red light’. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071212_c3c825027d966a2aedc846970390eebe063957503c7eacc8e01e0517843f9bbb.png" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20241207071212_c3c825027d966a2aedc846970390eebe063957503c7eacc8e01e0517843f9bbb" data-rendition-name="original" width="892" height="596" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara "> </figure>  Two days later on 21 February, a soundless blue object was seen traveling fast across the sky above Thimphu in Bhutan. Then on 4 March there were multiple daytime sightings or white streaks in the sky at Chang La Pass, Fukche and Koyul in Ladakh. There were more sightings in Ladakh on the very day fragments fell near Pokhara on 25 March 1968.&nbsp; After the sightings in Pokhara, rumours started flying in Kathmandu that these were aliens trying to land on Earth, it could be Russian or Chinese spy planes or satellites, and some even say it as a sign from heaven that the end of the world was near. This was at the height of the Cold War. The Russians and Americans were testing their thermonuclear devices as well as intercontinental ballistic missile delivery systems. The Washington-Beijing rapprochement had not yet happened, and China was making quick progress testing atomic bombs. Within two years after its first atomic test, in 1966 China exploded its first hydrogen bomb at the Lop Nur site in Xinjiang, 3,000km to the north from Nepal. After neary six decades, what is still intriguing is that all the sightings within a few months of each other in 1968 were along the Himalayan arc bordering Tibet: from Bhutan, Sikkim Nepal, to Ladakh. The US military intelligence seems to have concluded that this was not a coincidence and there were frequent research trips to the site in Pokhara by American officials in the months after the incident. With the help of the Royal Nepal Army, the region north of Pokhara was thoroughly searched.&nbsp; A confidential memo dated 25 June 1968 by Jerry C Trippy to a ‘Mr Farley’ mentions that the US Air Force’s Foreign Technology Division had decided that the debris could be important because it may be related to a Chinese missile test or a Soviet ‘Vehicle Venik’ rocket.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071216_feb5425692dc36b20187de4e4fcc2ce9fd12b6d9e1b8724398e50bcdbf9032fe.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20241207071216_feb5425692dc36b20187de4e4fcc2ce9fd12b6d9e1b8724398e50bcdbf9032fe" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> </figure>  On 28 August 1968 the US Embassy in Kathmandu sent a letter to Washington DC saying that the object could be of Soviet origin, possibly from when the rocket carrying the ‘Kosmos 208’ satellite re-entered the atmosphere. But why were the fragments falling to earth several weeks apart, and in the same region? No one knows where the metal sheet that Kul Timilsina recovered is now. It was definitely packed in a crate and taken to the US, and although it is rumoured that it was returned that is not very likely. Archivist Sunil Ulak heard from the Timilsina family that CIA officials had returned to the site five years ago. &nbsp; Interest in UFOs peaked in the US in the 1950s, with the Cold War space race and tests of atomic weapons and delivery rockets. CIA and scientists were being sent to investigate sightings, both publicly and privately. Could the Pokhara fragments as well as the sightings in Ladakh and Bhutan actually be alien craft falling to earth? The renewal in interest in space travel in large part due to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, UFOs and sightings are again subjects of public interest.&nbsp; Even 57 years later, even if there was definitive proof about whether the Batlechaur fragment was from a Chinese missile or a soviet rocket, it has not been made public in documents declassified so far. We may never know.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071216_b6938795f40731e7657fd6dcbb3cf460a326186a15eb11d4f832f602201ff598.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20241207071216_b6938795f40731e7657fd6dcbb3cf460a326186a15eb11d4f832f602201ff598" data-rendition-name="original" width="642" height="320" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> </figure>  Sunil Ulak speculates if the debris actually came from an American aircraft, perhaps on an intel mission upon China. “Which could explain why they were so thorough in collecting the fragments in Pokhara,” he says. But that still does not explain the multiple sightings weeks apart in 1968.&nbsp; Indeed, US military aircraft were at that time flying frequent night-time missions from air force bases in India to supply weapons to Khampa guerrilla camps in Nepal located north of Pokhara in Mustang. It could very well be that the Chinese shot down one such aircraft. The other sightings could have been contrails of US spy planes, or Chinese anti-aircraft missiles.&nbsp; There were quite a few developments regarding UFOs in 2024. In a US congressional hearing in July, former intelligence officer David Grusch claimed that the government had long been involved in a program to investigate and retrieve non-human craft crashes, and then try to reverse engineer them. However Grusch did not show any evidence.&nbsp; The UAP Disclosure Act of 2024 was signed into law by Joe Biden in December 2023. It plans to oversee the public disclosure of UFO information. However, there is a clause in it that prevents disclosure if it would cause threats to military defense, intelligence operations or foreign relations.&nbsp; It is unlikely that the declassified documents about sightings in the Himalayan will cause any real surprise about definite evidence of alien life even if it was found. It seems humanity will continue, at least for now, to wonder about curious lights in the sky and whether there is anybody out there.&nbsp;

UFO over Pokhara

When Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) president Rabi Lamichhane was arrested in October on charges of defrauding depositors of cooperatives, the party’s vice president Swarnim Wagle gifted him Fareed Zakaria’s book, Age of Revolutions.
Since then, Lamichhane has been shunted around from Kathmandu to Pokhara to Chitwan and back to Pokhara to attend police investigations and court proceedings. He was being flown to Birganj via Kathmandu on Buddha Air on Monday. There is another pending case in Janakpur.
Human rights groups and civil society have criticised the government for hounding Lamichhane with inhumane treatment that borders on physical torture. The two parties in the coalition, Nepali Congress (NC) and the UML, see Lamichhane’s RSP as a potentially formidable challenge to their power.
Even if the fraud charges against Lamichhane are true, the Nepali public is increasingly looking at the government’s actions through the police and courts as political vendetta.
Despite all the travelling, sometimes by plane and often by road at night, Lamichhane appears to be in high spirits, waving to supporters who often gather if they know he is going to be driven around. A social media video shows him giving high fives to fellow passengers on a recent flight to Pokhara.&nbsp;
In the past weeks, streets in Pokhara have erupted with parallel protests by Lamichhane’s supporters as well as depositors of cooperatives who lost their savings to the scam.&nbsp;
Although family visits are allowed, prison officials in Pokhara told Nepali Times that not many people visit Lamichhane these days. He added, “When he does get visitors, he asks them to bring him books.”
Lamichhane is currently Nepal’s most high-profile public figure in custody, and highlights the stark difference between how influential prisoners are treated compared to ordinary inmates.
There are six prison cells at Kaski District Police Office’s two-story detention centre, three on each floor. And while authorities pack prisoners into already overcrowded cells, Lamichhane has an entire room on the second floor to himself.&nbsp;
He has also been allowed to call his family every few days. Other prisoners are not permitted phone calls except for emergencies.
Meanwhile, Lamichhane’s former business partner Chhabilal Joshi, an ex-Deputy Inspector General of Police with whom he established his Gorkha Media Network, is in custody under the same charges in the prison cell next to him.
Lamichhane is accused of siphoning off depositors' money to the tv network in which he was part-owner and anchor. &nbsp;
Both Lamichhane and Joshi are able to buy food from the police canteen instead of being served the regular meal like other prisoners. Joshi has also given his statement to authorities in Rupandehi and Kathmandu for his alleged role in the scam. Lamichhane is yet to be presented in Kathmandu for questioning.
While he was in custody at the Kathmandu District Police Complex, Joshi expressed his desire to sleep in a police officer’s office, reportedly assuring authorities that he would not run away and he was entitled to certain facilities as a former officer of the law.
“He seemed to be under the impression that he is still a police officer,” says a source at the Kathmandu District Police. “We made it clear to him that as someone accused of a crime, he was not entitled to special treatment.”
Former ministers Balkrishna Khand and Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, and ex-home secretary Tek Narayan Pandey, who were arrested in connection with the fake refugee scam last year, were similarly housed in the offices of law enforcement officials instead of prison cells. Khand has since been released after six months in jail.
While there is no legal provision to keep high-ranking officials in separate detention centres when they are arrested, authorities granting them special facilities is not uncommon. Law enforcement officials say VIP detainees expect preferential treatment while in police custody.
Among those is former Kosi Province minister Lila Ballav Adhikari, who was arrested from Biratnagar on 10 November over his alleged involvement in human trafficking and brought to Kathmandu. Adhikari had flown to Japan without government approval with three individuals on 29 October to attend a cultural conference, but had been sent back to Nepal from Narita.&nbsp;
His three companions were arrested at Kathmandu airport upon their arrival, but Adhikari was able to exit unscathed from the VIP lounge. Adhikari had resigned as the Kosi Province Minister for Internal Affairs and Law when it became public that his companions had been taken into custody, and was himself arrested shortly after. He has since been cleared by the courts.
Throughout his detention, Adhikari was kept separately from other inmates. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Basant Rajouri, head of the Bhadrakali complex, says that while there is no separate detention area for VIPs, some detainees are kept separately depending on the nature of their crime.
However, sources say that arrangements were made for retired judges and others to visit Adhikari frequently worked at the office of a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) during his time in custody.&nbsp;
“He used to constantly pester the authorities to let him sit outside in the sun, and to be able to use the police officer’s shower area,” added an officer.
Adhikari was released on 25 November after the government prosecutor’s office decided not to charge him in a move that was seen to expose the government’s double standards.
Over at Kathmandu’s Dilli Bazar Prison, former Kist Bank CEO Kamal Gyawali emerges from his prison cell into the courtyard of the prison’s ‘Ka (क)’ block every morning with a thick book in his hands, ready to give his daily sermon.
With his long beard, Gyawali, who is serving a prison sentence for banking fraud, looks the part of a religious guru as he implores his rapt listeners to “walk the right path, abandon bad thoughts and turn to scripture and spirituality”.&nbsp;
Afterward, the attendees gather to discuss politics and current affairs. Inmates at his daily sermons at the prison include other high-profile detainees, including former MP Ichchha Raj Tamang, who is in jail for money laundering and cooperatives fraud, former joint secretary Chudamani Sharma, who was convicted of corruption, as well as NC leader Chandra Bahadur Lama and Krishna Bahadur Upreti of the UML both of whom are on trial for embezzling billions of rupees.
Victims of the cooperatives scam that former lawmaker Tamang was involved in have made trips to the prison and requested visits, but he has refused to meet with any of them.
“Tamang often complains that the state has prevented him from returning the money to the victims by locking him up,” says a police officer at the Dili Bazar jail.
“All you hear every day from the VIP prisoners is that they have been framed,” adds the officer. “No one admits that they were involved in misdeeds.”
But while most high-profile prisoners complain about prison conditions, one exception is former provincial lawmaker Deepak Manange, who is serving a sentence at Dilli Bazar Jail for attempted murder.
“He is the happiest prisoner here,” says a warden. “Unlike the others, he doesn’t claim to have been framed, in fact he doesn’t seem to care that he is in prison.”
Manange is detained in the ‘Kha (ख)’ block of the prison complex, which he renovated at his own expense. The block previously housed female prisoners, but Manange used his influence to transfer them elsewhere. He faces no shortage of visitors, who range from political leaders to people from the underworld.
Along with Manange, other well-known prisoners in this block include Nepal Telecom Managing Director Sunil Poudel, and former executive director of the Surakshan Printing Centre Bikal Poudel, who are serving time for corruption.
Former prisoners at Dilli Bazar prison include ex-ministers Khum Bahadur Khadka and Shyam Sundar Gupta, NC leader Ganesh Lama, Maoist MP Balkrishna Dhungel, Nagarik Unmukti Party leader Resham Chaudhary, as well as former IGs Ramesh Chand Thakuri, Om Bikram Rana, and Hem Bahadur Gurung.
Section 54 of Nepal’s Prison Act assigns each prison’s internal administration the
responsibility of governing its prisoners, which means the more favourable the jail management is, the more comfortable it is for prisoners.
Dilli Bazar prison has been the prison of choice for many high-ranking prisoners, especially those convicted of white collar crimes, due to its more accommodating administrators. The prison, which has the capacity to house 700 inmates, is also less crowded than other jails.
Anuj Bhattarai, spokesperson of the Department of Prison Management, says that there is no legal classification in Nepal for felons to be assigned prisons based on the nature of their crimes.
“That Dilli Bazar Jail has a higher number of prisoners convicted of crimes like corruption is most likely a coincidence,” says Bhattarai. “There is no provision for influential people to be able to choose where they will be incarcerated.”&nbsp;
Translated by Shristi Karki from the Nepali original published in himalkhabar.com

What Nepal’s VIP prisoners do in jail

The Nepal Premier League T20 men’s cricket tournament is a culmination of much progress in the sport in Nepal over the past decade, and a thrilling first step into higher level sports events in the country. Adding to the excitement is the international talent taking part. The tournament features eight teams made up of Nepali and international cricketers, including Shikhar Dhawan, one of India’s greatest ODI batsmen over the 2010s, and an IPL stalwart for the Delhi and Mumbai franchises. Dhawan is playing for the Karnali Yaks at the NPL. Other eminent imports include Kiwi batsman Martin Guptill, Indian-American Unmukt Chand, and Trinidadian fast bowler Anderson Philip. The NPL franchises are named for Nepal’s provinces and cities. Beside the Yaks, there are the Biratnagar Kings, the Chitwan Rhinos, the Janakpur Bolts, the Kathmandu Gurkhas, the Lumbini Lions, the Pokhara Avengers, and the Sudurpaschim Royals. The franchises have a wide variety of backers, including Kantipur Publications behind the Gurkhas, Chitwan Medical College behind the Rhinos, and Himalayan Builders for the Yaks. These entities are paying the international stars salaries rumoured to be in the Rs5 million range ($37,000) for the 21-day contest.&nbsp; The teams will play each other first in a round-robin league, after which the best performers will progress to playoffs. There will be 32 games in total, all to be held at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur which is being spruced up, including additions of an expanded boundary, digital scoreboard, new sight screens, and practice pitches.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241129041152_9236da646959b888a8635b10bd46b9f9e08f0068ab031a4b8ad736a185288164.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20241129041152_9236da646959b888a8635b10bd46b9f9e08f0068ab031a4b8ad736a185288164" data-rendition-name="original" width="1080" height="1080" loading="lazy" alt="NPL"> </figure>  “Holding all the games at the same stadium makes sense logistically for this inaugural season,” says Chhumbi Lama of the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN). “Future editions will see matches happen across Nepal.”&nbsp; Another benefit of the tournament in future is that it may expedite the completion and upgrades of stadiums across the country, such as Mulpani Cricket Stadium in Kathmandu, the Gautam Buddha International Stadium in Bharatpur, and the Fapla Cricket Ground in Kailali. The main benefit of the tournament is said to be the development of Nepali cricket talent. The rules are also made up to favour this with each 16-player squad having no more than four foreign players. One Nepali ‘marquee’ player was selected by lottery, and others were signed through auctions for as high as Rs1.5 million. “Each team will have the marquee player from the province they represent,” says Lama, although this does not seem to be the case in practice. The 24-year-old leg spinner Sandeep Lamichhane, for example, is captaining the Biratnagar Kings, although he comes from Syangja district in Gandaki Province. “NPL’s goal is to support the development of cricket and our players,” says ex-captain and CAN secretary Paras Khadka. Players who are not usually selected for the national team will have the chance to show their cricketing skills. This has proved very beneficial in similar domestic leagues around the world. The Indian Premier League, for instance, led to the discovery and improvement of players like fast-bowler Jasprit Bumrah and batsman Suryakumar Yadav, who not only have become regular starters for the Indian national team, but also are now some of the top-ranked cricketers in the world, contributing to India being the best team in both T20s and ODIs. Nepal’s excellent run in the T20 World Cup this summer, with stellar performances against The Netherlands, South Africa and Bangladesh showed the world that the country could compete at the highest level in cricket. This has added to the legitimacy of the NPL and also promises longevity through future editions: the titular sponsor of the tournament, Siddhartha Bank, has committed to this role until 2029. Ncell is also involved, as the ‘Powered by’ sponsor, continuing the telecom company’s support for cricket, football, volleyball, golf and paralympic athletes. Another sponsor for the Kathmandu Gurkhas, is Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD. Adding weight to the NPL is that it is being broadcast live on Star Sports, giving it a global audience. Perhaps the eyes on the tournament that will have the added benefit of discouraging match fixing which has been a problem in past attempts to organise cricket leagues in Nepal.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024112905110_d1817c8e82f476c20081dae3ba820c7f7305b8cfb095a97264915c6af50f3d60.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024112905110_d1817c8e82f476c20081dae3ba820c7f7305b8cfb095a97264915c6af50f3d60" data-rendition-name="original" width="1440" height="1080" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal Premier League NT 3"> </figure>  The 2022-23 Nepal T20 league, sold to Indian sports management company Seven3Sports by CAN, saw individual cricketers approached by sports bettors to ‘spot-fix’ by getting out quickly or conceding a lot of runs when bowling. The large sums of money offered to the athletes by fixers is tempting, especially considering that salaries are not only low but sometimes unpaid. This led to an investigation from officials from the International Cricket Council, and cases filed against cricketers by the District Attorney’s Office in Kathmandu. The much wider coverage of this tournament should do better at discouraging corruption. Ticketing partner Khalti reports that tickets for the opening game are quickly selling out. The winning trophy was revealed at a ceremony at Dharara on Saturday. Marquee Players including Lamichhane, Rohit Paudel, Dipendra Singh Airee and Sompal Kami flanked Prime Minister KP Oli as he presented the cup: a large silver piece with an engraving of Mt Everest, topped by a stone from Kala Pattar (pictured).&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241129041152_f37ca66b9e68f28ad9bf1ab6f7dc74314e71345b8b3a02794c62be9357fb08be.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241129041152_f37ca66b9e68f28ad9bf1ab6f7dc74314e71345b8b3a02794c62be9357fb08be" data-rendition-name="original" width="1080" height="720" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal Premier League NPL NT 1"> </figure>  The tournament kicks off at 12:15PM on Saturday 30 November, with a game between the Biratnagar Kings and the Janakpur Bolts. Two games are scheduled almost every day until 16 December, with the first starting at 9:15AM and the second at 1:15PM. Playoffs start on 18 December with teams that end up third and fourth playing first, with the loser eliminated. The first and second play next, with the winner advancing to the final. The loser then plays the winner of the first match for a place in the final. This format, compared to a straight semifinal-final approach, rewards teams for having done better in the group stages, as teams 1 and 2 have multiple chances at reaching the grand finale on 21 December. A team to look out for is the Sudurpaschim Royals which is well-backed, with the most Facebook followers. Captained by popular national team all-rounder Dipendra Singh Airee, the Royals also have batsman Aarif Sheikh, bowler Abinash Bohara and Scottish all-rounder Brandon McMullen in their ranks.

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