Nepal’s law and order situation is not impressive, but it is hard to imagine that ministry in charge of upholding the law in the country would be consistently slacking in its duties.

Data from the Judgement Execution Directorate (JED) of the Supreme Court (SC) show exactly that, as there has been a pattern of non-compliance of orders given by the court. The Ministry of Home Affairs is yet to implement 49 orders given by the apex court, and some of them date back to 2006, according to records of the JED.

The cases of non-compliance of orders vary widely-arrest of murder convict UCPN (Maoist) leader Bal Krishna Dhungel despite his appearances in public, promotion of Deputy Inspectors General of Police, formulation of law to protect people with mental disabilities and issuance of citizenship from the place of birth of either mother or father. Dhungel’s is one of the prominent orders which the ministry has failed to comply with.

On January 22, Sabitri Shrestha, sister of Ujjain Shrestha of Okhaldhunga, who was murdered by Dhungel, filed a complaint at the JEC, stating that the SC decision to send him to life imprisonment on January 3, 2010 has gone unimplemented. In the complaint, she had asked the JEC to write to authorities, asking them to conduct rapid search in Kapan area where Dhungel lives. The JEC wrote to Nepal Police Headquarters on January 24, asking it to arrest Dhungel. Nepal Police is yet to respond. Dhungel is walking free.

The MoHA is also yet to write back on the decision to reveal the status of 83 disappeared citizens by a division bench on June 1, 2007. The

list of such non-compliance goes long.

“Police are still searching for him (Dhungel),” said Yadav Koirala, spokesperson for MoHA.

Koirala insists that MoHA is doing its best to comply with the SC decisions.

“But many times they direct us to do things that do not fall under our jurisdiction. Also, formulation of law takes time as many of the decisions direct us to follow the order,” said Koirala.

With the lead law enforcement agency slacking on its duties, plaintiffs have nowhere to go, except to draw the attention of the courts again. But the success rate has been low.

“This is really frustrating. We have waited for too long and the authorities are yet to book the guilty,” said Sabitri Shrestha, sister of slain Ujjain Shrestha.