Supreme Court calls police action against former Chief Justice Rana unacceptable

Nepal's Supreme Court held an emergency plenary session on Monday, September 28, and declared that police action against a citizen, even a former chief justice, without completing legal process is unacceptable in a democracy. Spokesperson and co-registrar Arjun Prasad Koirala said the judiciary must stay free of outside pressure and warned against acts that improperly influence pending or coming cases, Nepal Press reported.

That statement is the sharpest institutional rebuke yet in a case that has unsettled Nepal's legal establishment since early Sunday, September 27, when police took former Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher Rana from his home in Maharajgunj. Rana became chief justice in January 2019. He was suspended in February 2022 after lawmakers filed an impeachment motion against him. The Supreme Court dismissed that motion as moot on September 9, 2026, the Kathmandu Post reported.

It matters beyond one powerful man. The court's statement covered police action against any citizen, not only a former chief justice, Nepal Press reported. If the country's top court says a former chief justice was denied due legal process, the same question hangs over how police can treat any citizen picked up at night.

Officers reached Rana's residence around 12:30 am, and he initially refused to go with them, OnlineKhabar reported. Armed Police Force guards posted at the house first stopped the officers at the gate, the Kathmandu Post reported. Police spent about ninety minutes persuading him before taking him to the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office in Teku. Police first called it an arrest. Hours later, Senior Superintendent Santosh Khadka gave a different account, saying Rana was brought in only because of a security threat. "After learning that there was a security threat to him, we brought him to our office at night because something could happen," Khadka told OnlineKhabar. No arrest warrant was produced, and no charge has been disclosed, the Kathmandu Post reported. Spotlight Nepal reported that police cited a complaint lodged with the Crime Investigation Office. Nepal Wire could not confirm that any complaint was registered. The Supreme Court's statement puts the detention at about 10 hours. OnlineKhabar's reporting puts it closer to 12. Rana was handed back to his family on Sunday afternoon.

The Judges' Society Nepal separately said Rana was not treated fairly even though state security personnel were already posted at his residence, Nagarik News reported. The Nepal Bar Association also objected to the police action and warned against arbitrary action, myRepublica reported.

What the coverage missed

Two developments from the same day drew far less attention than the court's statement.

Police blocked a three member National Human Rights Commission team, led by commissioner Manoj Duwadi, from meeting Rana at Teku, keeping it waiting 45 minutes at the gate before it left without seeing him, OnlineKhabar reported. NHRC spokesperson Tikaram Pokharel called the conduct a violation of the commission's constitutional rights and demanded action against the officers involved. The commission has since summoned Khadka for questioning, the Kathmandu Post reported.

Rastriya Swatantra Party, the ruling party whose police carried out the detention, said nothing about it on the floor of Parliament on Monday. Neither did the main opposition, Nepali Congress, even though its spokesperson Devraj Chalise had already issued a written objection calling the government's explanations contradictory, Ratopati reported. Other opposition MPs, from CPN-UML and smaller opposition parties, did challenge the government in the House, calling the police action "state terror," Ratopati reported.

What we still do not know

• What law, if any, was used to hold Rana, or whether a case was registered against him. Nepal Police headquarters or the Home Ministry could answer this.
• Why the security threat that justified taking Rana from his home at midnight had disappeared within hours, with no charge and no continued protection. Only Nepal Police can answer this.
• Why the National Human Rights Commission's team was denied access to Rana at Teku. Khadka, now summoned by the NHRC, could answer this.
• Why the ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party has issued no formal position on a detention carried out by its own government's police. Only RSP's central leadership can answer this.