The Supreme Court on Thursday summoned Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in person within seven days with a written response on why he should not be punished for contempt of court.

“The Supreme Court has summoned the prime minister to present his written response,” said Devendra Dhakal, assistant spokesperson of the Supreme Court.

A single bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Sharma on Thursday issued the order after hearing two contempt of court cases against the prime minister.

This is probably the first time that the Supreme Court has summoned Prime Minister Oli on a contempt of court case.

On January 26, two contempt of court cases were registered at the apex court—one by senior advocate Kumar Sharma Acharya and the other by advocate Kanchan Krishana Neupane—against Oli for using disparaging remarks against legal practitioners and trying to influence the court.

On January 22, Oli, while addressing his cadres, was defending his House dissolution move. And in doing so, he said that lawyers were arguing ad nauseum on House dissolution despite the fact that the constitution has no provision allowing restoration of the House.

Oli had also taken a jibe at senior advocate and former chair of Nepal Bar Association Krishna Prasad Bhandari, 94, saying that the petitioners were giving trouble to a “grandfather” lawyer as well.

“The same bench has also summoned former Speaker Daman Nath Dhungana to present at the court in person with a written response,” Dhakal told the Post.

After hearing another petition on contempt of court registered against the former Speaker by advocate Rajaram Ghimire, the single bench of Justice Sharma also summoned Dhungana.

In his petition Ghimire had argued that by speaking in a public forum that the justices of the Supreme Court could be targeted if they did not consider the people’s sentiment while delivering justice, the former Speaker’s remarks were contempt of court.

The court on Thursday also summoned four former chief justices— Min Bahadur Rayamajhi, Anup Raj Sharma, Kalyan Shrestha and Sushila Karki—in person with written responses within seven days.

The four former chief justices had issued a statement on January 8 saying that the House dissolution was unconstitutional, which according to the two petitioners—Lochan Bhattarai and Dhanjit Basnet—would influence the ongoing hearing on House dissolution and is tantamount to contempt of court.