The government, after repetitive orders from the Supreme Court, has decided to constitute the first juvenile court in the federal capital.

The court to be established in Bhaktapur will start its service from April 15 as per the Cabinet decision published in the Nepal Gazette a few days back.

“It will have the jurisdiction to hear cases related to juveniles from Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur and Kavrepalanchok districts,” reads the decision. “All the cases pending in the juvenile benches of district courts from the four districts will be transferred to the juvenile court.”

Similarly, the records of all the decisions made by the juvenile benches of the four district courts will also be transferred to the court. Currently, most of the district courts have juvenile benches.

The Children’s Act-1992 first envisioned a juvenile court to hear cases relating to children. As no initiative was taken for years to implement the legal provision, advocate Santosh Kumar Mahato moved the Supreme Court in 2004 seeking its intervention. The order issued on November 24, 2005 asked the government to establish such courts, but that never happened.

The Act Relating to Children-2018, which replaced the 1992 law, also envisions the establishment of juvenile courts. Clause 30 of the Act says the Nepal government may, on the recommendation of the Judicial Council, form the required number of juvenile courts to originally proceed, and try and settle the offence committed by children. It envisioned constituting juvenile benches in the district courts until separate courts are established. Several district courts have juvenile benches to look into children’s legal cases.

As successive governments paid little attention to constituting the juvenile court, another writ was lodged at the top court demanding a strong order to the government. Advocate Ajay Shankar Jha had moved the Supreme Court demanding an order against the government, asking it to establish juvenile courts in districts with 100 or more cases related to children for three consecutive fiscal years.

Issuing a full text of the September 24 order last year in March, a division bench of the court asked the Prime Minister’s Office, the ministries concerned and government bodies to constitute the courts by the end of the fiscal year 2023-24.

Reiterating earlier court orders and quoting existing legal provisions, the court had said, “Now it is not the government’s prerogative to decide whether or not to constitute the courts."

The division bench of justices Anil Kumar Sinha and Til Prasad Shrestha had also directed the Judgement Enforcement Directorate to monitor whether the ruling was implemented. As per the verdict, in consultation with the Judicial Council, the government can set criteria to establish the courts.

In a strongly worded ruling, the court had said the delay in establishing even a single juvenile court is not due to a lack of resources. “This reflects a lack of commitment on the government’s part on the one hand and a lack of accountability in the officials holding authority on the other. It will not be an overstatement to conclude this as a portrayal of the absence of good governance,” read the court order.

However, against the petitioner’s demand, the court had left it up to the government to decide how many juvenile courts to constitute.

Despite a strong ruling, then-Pushpa Kamal Dahal administration did not constitute the court. Over a year after the order, the government decided to establish the first ever court.

The judicial council will select dedicated district courts with judges believed to understand the sensitivity of children in the new court.