A senior judge of the Supreme Court of Nepal, who is on the bench hearing a contempt case called by the Chief Justice against a newspaper, on Monday walked out of the court before the hearing started and said the Chief Justice was in his post illegally. Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana, who is second-in-line to succeed Chief Justice Gopal Prasad Parajuli, arrived in court half-an-hour late and read from a prepared text, saying he would not be holding any bench assigned by Parajuli, whose retirement is due in July based on age and “continuation is illegal”.

 The Sunday Express reported on March 4 that Chief Justice Parajuli had summoned Kantipur Daily in court on contempt charges after the newspaper published a series of reports claiming he gave different dates of birth on various documents in a bid to hold office illegally.

 The Nepal Bar Association called Justice Rana’s act “obstruction of justice” and an assault on the judiciary.

 The full bench headed by Parajuli was to take up the hearing for the second consecutive day Monday against Kantipur chairman Kailash Sirohiya, his wife and director Swastika Sirohiya, editor-in-chief Sudhher Sharma and reporter Krishna Gyawali in a contempt case for publishing articles claiming that extrajudicial interest had a role in Parajuli’s various judgments.

 The supreme court will be taking up the case Tuesday, but it was not yet known who will substitute Justice Rana.

Courtesy: Indian Express