Lately, there has been a marked rise in organized crime. The 10-year Maoist insurgency and the ongoing activities of armed outfits in the Tarai and the eastern hills have provided a socio-political context for crime to thrive. Currently, many criminal groups are carrying out their activities under political cover. Politicization of crime and criminalization of politics are so rampant that society is gradually beginning to accept crime as a day to day reality, and this is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future without drastic improvements in law and order. Such pervasive presence and acceptance of crime in society only highlights the need to tackle it with a sense of urgency.
The chief aim of the new Bill is to provide police the necessary teeth to investigate, nab and punish perpetrators of organized crime. The Bill gives police, for the first time in Nepal´s history, the authority to tap the phones of crime suspects. The Bill also proposes to recognize digital records such as those captured by camera and video, as evidence in court. It has likewise proposed stern punishment for criminals, including jail terms of up to 10 years and seizure of fixed and movable assets acquired through organized crime.
There can be no dispute about the need to update and strengthen the laws to check organized crime. However, we should not forget that there is a fine line between upholding human rights and maintaining law and order. The state cannot and should not trample on citizens´ privacy and human rights on the pretext of controlling crime. We do have some concerns about provisions in the Bill which can be misused to infringe upon the people´s fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution. For example, politicians in power can use the police to tap the phones of rival politicians, as often happens in politics.
To avoid such possibilities, the committee which will be giving permission to police to tap phones should be rendered high-profile and independent. Currently, the bill says that police will have to obtain such permission from a seven-member committee headed by a home ministry official. We are not confident that such an official can ensure the independence and impartiality of the committee. We, therefore, recommend that the committee be formed under a former justice of high integrity.
We also have concerns that Nepal Police will abuse the authority the Bill envisages and nab people without any arrest warrant or detain them for three months without a judicial trial. Our suggestion to the state is, strike a balance between maintaining law and order and upholding human rights.
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