Nepal Bar Association (NBA) has said its serious attention has been drawn towards the arrest of Dr Govinda KC on contempt of court case.

Dr KC may have set a bad precedent by challenging court’s verdict, the NBA said in a statement while urging the concerned sides not to promote such behaviour to protect the independence of judiciary.

Dr KC was arrested on Monday while he was staging his 14th hunger strike, demanding resignation of Chief Justice Gopal Parajuli for his controversial ruling to reinstate Dr Sashi Sharma as the dean of the Institute of Medicine.

Noting that Nepal’s constitution has provisioned that all justice related rights will be exercised by the court and everyone should abide by the court order, the NBA has objected to Dr KC’s activities that would “reduce faith in independent and accountable judiciary.”

 The umbrella organisation of lawyers further added that actions like hurling personal accusations, using impolite language , demanding resignation of Chief Justice and staging hunger strike to overturn a court verdict were not favourable to judiciary.

“The legal way to file a complaint against any judge is to do it through Judicial Council as mentioned in section 17 (1) of the Judicial Council Act 2073.  After this, the Judicial Council has authority to probe into the case while concerned court can seek document or files related to the case,” the NBA has said. “We urge everyone to maintain the dignity of independent judiciary by following the aforesaid legal process.”

The NBA has also urged Dr KC and to stop his hunger strike and not to mount any form of pressure on judiciary.