Attorney General's Office Initiates Reforms for Victim-Centric Criminal Justice System

Kathmandu. The Office of the Attorney General has started extensive reform programs to make the criminal justice system victim-friendly, effective, and accountable.

Attorney General Dr. Narayan Dutt Kandel provided this information at a program to publicize the fourth five-year strategic plan (2083/84 - 2087/88) of the Office of the Attorney General and the work progress of the last fiscal year.

The practice of mandatorily claiming compensation for crime victims in every criminal case has been initiated. Previously, there was no practice of claiming compensation. Kandel stated that this step was taken after he became the Attorney General to effectively implement the justice with compensation as provisioned by the Constitution of Nepal and the Criminal Offenses Code.

Now, district government attorney offices will claim compensation for victims during prosecution and investigation. If compensation is not provided by the court, it will be demanded through appeals. A criterion has also been prepared to provide interim relief to victims. The practice of mandatory appearance of government attorneys in court, making witness testimonies effective, and providing adequate legal consultation to victims has been implemented. These reforms have been made to address the complaints received regarding weak prosecution of government cases, witness management, and delays in the appeal process.

"Article 21(2) of the Constitution of Nepal and the Criminal Offenses Code have provisioned justice with compensation," said Attorney General Kandel, "but this provision was not effectively implemented." He stated that although they talk about criminal justice, the tradition of mandatorily claiming compensation had not started. "From this time onwards, we have started that," he added, "Now, from the district government attorney offices, we will go with claims for compensation for crime victims during prosecution and investigation." He clarified that if compensation is not provided, it will be demanded even through appeals, and a criterion has also been set for interim relief.

A direct monitoring system has been implemented to improve the performance of the government attorney's office. The monitoring team will visit the concerned office and study files of 5 to 10 percent of cases. A system has been started to review the weaknesses and positive aspects of prosecution and investigation and provide corrective instructions based on that.

Similarly, an online monitoring system for daily service delivery has also been operationalized. A separate desk has been established to monitor whether government attorneys are present in court, why cases are adjourned, whether the defense is effective, and whether the charge sheet has been provided to the concerned parties. Now, each district government attorney's office will have to send the details of the same day on the same day to the Office of the Attorney General. Clarification has been sought from 16 district government attorney offices that have not submitted reports on time.

In the last fiscal year, 3,191 cases were decided by the Office of the Attorney General. It has been stated that 1,155 cases have been decided since Kandel took charge, and only one case among them has been challenged so far.

The publicized fourth five-year strategic plan aims to make the prosecution system more objective, enhance the capacity of human resources, and expand institutional capacity. The estimated budget required to implement this plan, which includes five priorities, five goals, 28 strategic objectives, and 155 activities, is 3 billion 40 crore 41 lakh 30 thousand rupees.