Former chief justice arrested a day after PM’s return, released hours later

Former chief justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana was taken into police custody from his Maharajgunj residence early Sunday, a day after Prime Minister Balendra Shah returned from the United States, and released hours later after police said they had taken him to safety following a security threat.

The episode has raised questions over why Rana was taken from his home, whether the action amounted to an arrest and what prompted the police operation.

A team from the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office arrived at Rana’s residence at around 3 AM and took him to its office in Teku. The office initially confirmed that Rana had been arrested, with a senior police official also confirming his detention.

Police later changed their account. SP Rameshwar Karki said Rana had been brought to the office after police sensed a “security challenge” and that he was being kept in a safe place. He said there was no plan to pursue a case against Rana.

SSP Santosh Khadka also said Rana had not been arrested but had been taken into protective custody after police received information about a possible threat to his safety. Police have not publicly disclosed the nature or source of the alleged threat.

According to Rana’s family, police told him there was a threat from Gen Z groups. The family said Rana was unaware of any such threat and instead asked police to strengthen security at his residence. Police nevertheless insisted that he accompany them.

The National Human Rights Commission sent a team to the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office to meet Rana, but police did not allow the team to enter. The team waited at the gate for around 45 minutes before returning.

Rana was released around 2 PM and handed over to his family. Police said he did not face a criminal case.

Legal community seeks clarification

The Nepal Bar Association has called on the government to clarify the purpose and basis of the action.

Bar president Bijaya Mishra said the association had questions about the manner in which Rana was taken from his residence at midnight. He said the Bar did not support corruption but would need to know whether the action was part of an anti-corruption campaign, had a political purpose or was intended to intimidate Rana before taking a position.

The main opposition Nepali Congress has also demanded that the government make public the legal basis and justification for taking Rana into custody. Party spokesperson Devraj Chalise said contradictory statements from government officials were a matter of concern and that, if the action was necessary because of a security threat or other exceptional circumstances, the government should provide a credible explanation.

The party said an arrest by itself could not be treated as evidence of guilt and called for any investigation to be based on evidence and due process.

Former minister and Aam Janata Party chair Prabhu Sah also criticised the detention, questioning what offence Rana had committed and under what legal authority he was taken from his residence. Sah called for opposition to what he described as an arbitrary action and questioned the government's decision to take a former chief justice into custody without publicly explaining the legal basis.

Rana’s impeachment dispute

The detention also comes less than three weeks after the Supreme Court ended the long-running legal dispute surrounding the impeachment motion against Rana.

On September 9, the Constitutional Bench ruled that the impeachment motion against Rana had lost its purpose and dismissed four writ petitions related to the dispute. The four-member bench was led by Chief Justice Manoj Kumar Sharma.

Parliament had registered an impeachment motion against Rana on February 13, 2022, following which he was suspended from office. The motion remained pending for years. After the parliamentary session ended, the then secretary-general of the Federal Parliament Secretariat declared it inactive, a decision that was subsequently challenged in the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, Shah returned to Nepal on Saturday after attending the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. He had left Kathmandu on September 22 and returned on September 26.

There is no publicly established link between the prime minister’s return and the police action against Rana, a former Chief Justice who served as head of the nation’s highest judicial body.

But the timing, the initial description of the operation as an arrest, the subsequent explanation of a security threat and Rana’s release without a criminal case have left questions over the circumstances and purpose of the operation.

Police have yet to publicly explain what the alleged threat was, who posed it, why Rana had to be taken from his residence rather than protected there, or why officers initially described the action as an arrest.