Responding to the writ petition filed by a group of lawyers including AF, the High Court Tulsipur, Nepalgunj Bench on 24 May 2020, issued an interim order in the name of District Administration Office, Banke et al. to file the written response within 15 days of the order. The single bench of Hon’ble Justice Rajesh Kumar Kafle directed authorities at local levels of Banke and Bardiya to collect the verified data of labour force, helpless people residing in the respective area and to immediately publish the updated list in the website of the concerned authority.

21 May 2020: Till 21 May 2020, there are 758 quarantine facilities with 26,336 bed capacity in Province 5  of Nepal. Altogether 17,059 people are currently housed in those facilities. However, despite the growing number of people entering to Nepal from India and suspects of corona infection increasing, the Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) has been conducted in only 10,532 people. Below is a data  collected by Advocacy Forum-Nepal that gives picture of number of people housed in various quarantine facilities of Province 5.

On 10 May 2020, the members of Human Rights Monitoring Committee, Banke (Advocate Basanta Gautam from Advocacy Forum-Nepal, Bikash Acharya, Chairperson of Nepalgunj High Court Bar Association, Suresh Kumar Gautam, Member of FIAN Nepal, Prahlad Karki from Human Rights Organization of Nepal and Biswajit Tiwari from Human Rights Investigation) visited the Banke Prison. The objective of the visit was to monitor the situation of detainees kept in District Prison, Banke amid fear of COVID-19 spread and to monitor whether the prisoners kept in the prison are provided access to the basic human rights and safety from COVID-19. Likewise, one of the objectives was to make aware to the authorities concerned about the human rights situation of prisoners in the prison. 

On 10 May 2020, team members of Human Rights Monitoring Committee, Banke (Advocate Basanta Gautam from Advocacy Forum-Nepal, Bikash Acharya, Chairperson of Nepalgunj High Court Bar Association, Suresh Kumar Gautam, Member of FIAN Nepal, Prahlad Karki from Human Rights Organization of Nepal and Biswajit Tiwari from Human Rights Investigation) visited the Child Correction Home, Banke. The objective of the visit was to monitor the situation of Child Correction Home amid fear of COVID-19 spread and to monitor whether the juveniles kept in the Child Correction Home are provided access to the basic human rights and safety and security.

6 May 2020, Kathmandu: Duty of state to protect basic human rights of people persists during time of crisis. The current pandemic situation caused by Covid-19 has adversely affected the lives of people all around the globe. Amid this critical situation, the Human Rights Monitoring Committee, Nepalgunj, in which Advocacy Forum-Nepal is also a member, monitored the human rights situation in Banke district and draws attention of the stakeholders concerned during meeting and submitted an attention letter. Likewise, they issued a press statement in order to bring various issues of human rights to the attention of concerned stakeholders.

Upon hearing the writ petition (076-WH-0941) filed by Advocacy Forum-Nepal along with Terai Human Rights Defenders Alliance (THRDA) and International Legal Foundation-Nepal, on 23 April 2020, the joint bench of Hon’ble Justice Deepak Kumar Karki and Hon’ble Justice Ishwor Prasad Khatiwoda stated that it is indispensable to protect the right to life, individual integrity and dignity of people even during lockdown. The bench further stated that no person holding any public position of the government should inflict inhumane behavior on the people. It is very important for all bodies (especially the security forces) of the government to be sensitive with regard to protection of right of people and refraining from inhumane behavior towards the people. The Court further believed that the concerned bodies and government office bearers will be sensitive and serious in protecting the rights of the people.

On 21 April 2020, the single bench of Justice Dr. Anandamohan Bhattarai issued an order in the name of the office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers et al. to file the written response within 15 days of the order. The order highlighted to ensure that the people are not subjected to ill-treatment during lockdown and that their rights guaranteed by the Constitution are not violated. Hence, the Court has issued orders responding to the various writs filed at the SC. Furthermore, the bench ordered the defendants to appear before the Court on 23 April 2020 along with writs 076-WO-0932, 076-WO-0933, 076-WO-0934, 076-WO-0936, 076-WO-0938 and 076-WO-0940 (scheduled for hearing on 23 April) to discuss whether or not to issue the interim order.

On 21 April 2020, the High Court Tulsipur, Neplagunj Bench has ordered to release 9 prisoners from Nepalgunj Prison. The Court order states, "On behalf of applicants Prajun Giri et. al. against the District Court Banke including others on the habeas corpus writ (076-WH-0007), after studying the habeas corpus writ application, written response included in the case file and copies of court decisions presented by the applicants, based on the decision of the Supreme Court made on 20 March 2020 [2076/12/07] and the subsequent decision made by the full bench of the Supreme Court (press statement) at this critical situation of pandemic, the order for habeas corpus is issued as per the applicants' request." The order further writes, "Release all the applicants after they pay monetary fine as per the law for their remaining jail term."

Responding to the writ petition (habeas corpus) filed by Advocacy Forum-Nepal on 9 April 2020, the Supreme Court issued an order against the Kathmandu District Court, District Government Attorney Office (Babarmahal), Narcotics Control Bureau (Koteshwor), Child Correction Home (Sano Thimi), Bhaktapur to release the illegally detained juveniles on parental custody. The juveniles were subsequently released on 14 April 2020.

11 lawyers along with representatives from Advocacy Forum registered a writ of habeus corpus against Banke District Court and Prison Office Banke which decided to not release the prisoners who are convicted for the first time and serving upto 1 year of imprisonment upon payment of legal charges as per the decision of the full bench of the Supreme Court dated 20 March 2020. The writ was filed when the District Court Banke refused to release 9 out of 11 prisoners of Nepalgunj Prison who applied to be released as per the decision of the Supreme Court.