Kathmandu, 11 February 2025: A juvenile with the changed name PaJiA081/082(ta) has been released from judicial custody following the order of District Court Parsa on Tuesday.
District Court Parsa, on 9 February 2025, issued the order to release the juvenile.
Earlier, Advocacy Forum-Nepal (AF)’s Programme Coordinator, Advocate Kumar Prasad Thapaliya, filed a habeas corpus writ petition with the Supreme Court of Nepal against District Court Parsa, the District Attorney’s Office Parsa, and the District Police Office Parsa for detaining the juvenile without maintaining their confidentiality and conducting proceedings as if they were an adult, contrary to the procedural requirements stipulated in Section 30 of the Act Relating to Children 2018.
Responding to the writ petition, the joint bench of Justices Abdul Aziz Musalman and Sunil Kumar Pokharel, on 8 December 2024, issued an order of mandamus to District Court Parsa to create a separate charge sheet of the accused juvenile, maintain the secrecy of the juvenile’s identity, and conclude the decision within 120 days, as per the provision in the Act Relating to Children 2018.
AF’s Legal Consultant, Advocate Pushpa Raj Poudel, pleaded the case in the Apex Court with Advocate Thapaliya.
The juvenile was accused of the offence of human trafficking and was undergoing trial along with the adult co-accused persons at District Court Parsa. The court sent the juvenile to judicial custody at Child Reform Home (CRH) Bhaktapur, and the case was pending for the last three years.
Following the Supreme Court’s ruling, District Court Parsa, maintaining the juvenile’s confidentiality, delivered the verdict within 120 days. The single bench of Judge Deepak Khanal convicted the juvenile and sentenced them to one year and three months of imprisonment. Since the juvenile had already stayed in judicial custody for more than three years, the court ordered her release from the CRH. The question remains unanswered regarding the nearly two years the juvenile spent in detention before the verdict.
AF has made several similar legal interventions to facilitate the release of juveniles awaiting trial.
