SC judge concerned about courts’ failure to collect fines


Supreme Court Justice Anup Raj Sharma on friday expressed serious concern about the non-implementation of court verdicts. According to him, this has resulted in the court not being able to collect a huge amount in fines and slap sentences of thousands of years on convicts.

Sharma was speaking at a National Convention on Anti-Trafficking Bill jointly organised by the Forum for Women, Law and Development (FWLD) and the Daywalka Foundation Nepal. Data in the apex court show that the country’s judiciary has failed to collect more than Rs 30 billions in fines. They also show that the courts have not been able to slap more than 80,000 years of imprisonment on convicts.

Justice Sharma said that the Anti-Trafficking Bill has a provision whereby the victim has to be compensated from the fine imposed on the perpetrator. “How can the victims be compensated when the court itself is not being able to collect the fines?” he queried. He also said that the court cannot deliver justice to victims due to lack of sufficient evidences, which are to be produced by prosecutors and police while filing cases.

He called upon the government to appoint gender sensitive officials in departments concerned to provide justice to victims. He also demanded that the word Beshya (prostitute) be removed from Acts. According to him, this word tarnishes the image of women. President ofthe FWLD, Sapana Pradhan Malla, stressed on maintaining the privacy of victims not only in courtrooms but also in the police department when the latter investigates cases.