“Family Court”, the court’s action is commendable

“Family court”has started from District Court Kathmandu. Chief Justice Vishwambhar Prasad Shrestha reached the Kathmandu District Court and started the family court .

The court’s move to set up a separate bench for expeditious disposal of women’s cases is commendable. It is believed that with its effective operation, the situation of women having to wait for years for justice will end and trust in the court will increase.

For a long time, women’s rights activists have been raising the demand that a fast track court should be established for such cases. In 2066, the Supreme Court issued directives to establish a separate fast-track court to deal with criminal cases involving women victims, especially domestic violence victims. In the ‘Study Report on Reforms in the Procedural Law, 2072’, there was a suggestion to establish a family bench in the district court. When the recommendations of the Supreme Court’s directives and study report were not being implemented, after being recommended to the Chief Justice, during the parliamentary hearing, Vishwambhar Prasad Shrestha expressed his commitment to proceed with the establishment of a family bench as an important task. A family bench was formed within a month and a half after the Chief Justice was appointed. The implementation of the commitment that started in a short period of time has raised the hope that there will be more initiatives for court reform during Shrestha’s time.

A family bench has been formed to hear women’s cases with priority in the Kathmandu District Court, where the number of cases is high. There are currently around 30,000 cases in the Kathmandu District Court, and there are about 1,000 family cases involving women who are submitted to the family court. Had he proceeded equally, he would have had to wait years for a verdict. After the formation of a separate family court, due to speedy hearings, the victimized women can get justice in time.

Now, both judges and legal practitioners should be committed to not delaying the cases in the family court and to render justice as quickly as possible through regular hearings.

For years, there is a shortage of judges, cases are not being heard or even if they are heard, cases are being piled up in the court due to various reasons. There is a situation where the victim is reluctant to go to the court or has to leave the case in the middle due to having to go into debt after going to court for years.

A family court has now been started as a model practice in Kathmandu District Court. Although this is the first practice in Nepal, family courts have been operating as specialized courts for a long time in many countries including America. It seems that the family court has started here because a law has to be made to establish a separate court to deal with family disputes quickly. Feminist issues such as family violence, sexual and domestic violence, divorce and abuse are not enough to be dealt with separately and quickly, but must also be dealt with in a fair and gender-sensitive manner. Therefore, judges with expertise in gender equality and justice should also be arranged in such courts.