Nepal, Oct. 6 -- 'Contempt of court' is meant to shield the institution from targeted attacks that seek to delegitimise its authority by unfairly questioning its integrity. However, the line between politics and justice gets somewhat blurred when constitutional issues are decided by the bench rather than the legislature that is relatively open to criticism. The judicial overreach in Nepal dates to the 1990s, accompanied by a patchy record of public critique.

The perils of political judgement became clear to Justice Bishwonath Upadhyaya (1930-2014) when the CPN (UML) dragged his decision to restore a dissolved Pratinidhi Sabha in August 1995 into street protests. Merits of the judgement notwithstanding, the party became an instrument of p...