The constitutional bench at the Supreme Court on Thursday asked the government not to withdraw criminal cases merely at the recommendation of political parties if that would contravene the spirit of the constitution, court precedents or other state policies.
The request was made by the bench of Chief Justice Kalyan Shreshta and Justices Sushila Karki, Baidyanath Upadhyaya, Gopal Parajuli and Om Prakash Mishra.
With this development, political parties will have a hard time having cases against their cadres withdrawn if the government recommendation is against the spirit of the constitution and other laws and court precedents.
The Supreme Court bench stated that decisions taken by the cabinet at various times to withdraw criminal cases are against the spirit of the new constitution, court precedents and existing legal provisions. "The decisions by the government to withdraw cases is also against its own criteria for such withdrawals," the court further stated.
The court likewise stated that the decisions taken so far by governments to withdraw criminal cases are all based on political recommendations and are arbitrary and biased.
It is stated that the court can issue a writ certiorari, nullify government recommendations to withdraw a sub judice case if the recommendations contravene the given criteria.
Advocates Prakash Mani Sharma, Madhav Kumar Basnet, Bechani Devi, Rupiya Devi and Bisheshwor Mandal had filed a case at the Supreme Court against the existing practice of freeing accused individuals simply on the basis of a cabinet decision. Generally, political parties lobby for the withdrawal of cases pending against their own party members when their party leaders are in government.
In January 2014, the Supreme Court had issued a mandamus order to the government not to take any decision to withdraw murder cases against any individuals.
The Supreme Court had issued the mandamus order to the government over a case filed against the government decision to withdraw cases against 13 individuals charged with the murder of Bhola Sah of Siraha district.
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