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Petitioners’ privacy at stake
KATHMANDU, AUG 08 -
Despite the provision of a closed bench to handle special cases in courts, authorities have not been able to maintain privacy of petitioners who wish to remain anonymous for personal safety reasons.
Under the judicial system, the provision of closed benches was introduced in 2003 in Nepal to handle cases related to murder, rape, human trafficking and so on to keep secret the identity of a petitioner if they are young persons and women, as mentioned in other related laws.
Children’s Act 1992, Anti Human Trafficking Act 2007, Domestic Violence (Offence and Punishment) Act 2009, Muluki Ain, District Court Regulations 1995, Appellate Court Regulations 1995 and Supreme Court Regulations 1990 all have a provision for closed bench. But the process of coding the name of the appellant is complex and can disclose the victim’s identity that needs to be kept confidential.
While handling cases related to a closed bench, Nepal Police (NP) replaces the name of a victim with a code and sends the case to a government advocate. DSP Kedar Dhakal says the code is often changed by advocates, causing miscommunication between security officials and lawyers. “The office of the government advocate is authorised to change the code which sometimes reveals the identity of these people,” Dhakal said. “The office also removes the code if it does not find the case sensitive enough. But it hampers the security of victims.”
The petitioners’ identity gets exposed due to the involvement of NGOs even after the case goes to the closed bench, says Til Prasad Shrestha, Executive Director of National Judicial Academy. He says the practice is new in Nepal.
Posted on: 2010-08-09 07:50
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