Gen Z protests cripple Nepal's judiciary, slashing case clearance by nearly half

Nepal's judiciary is reeling from the impact of Gen Z protests, which occurred on September 8 and 9 last year. The nationwide demonstrations significantly limited court operations, causing the national case clearance rate to plummet to just 55 percent in the fiscal year 2025-2026. This marks a substantial drop from the previous year's rate of 65.69 percent.

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The destruction of vital files and court property brought hearings to a standstill. Severe damage to our central servers disrupted systems nationwide, preventing the judiciary from achieving its yearly targets.

The Supreme Court reported the lowest performance, settling only 29.46 percent of its cases in 2025-26, a decrease from 42 percent the prior year. High courts managed to resolve 70.36 percent of their caseload, down from 74.61 percent, while district courts saw their clearance rate fall to 55.61 percent from 66.25 percent. Other tribunals also experienced a significant decline, settling 41.67 percent of cases compared to 56.34 percent previously.

Beyond the direct impact on case processing, the protests inflicted severe economic and structural damage. An estimated 936,000 legal case files and documents were destroyed or burned, crippling ongoing litigations. The judiciary alone suffered an estimated Rs2.8 billion in structural damage. A total of 23 court premises were affected, including the Supreme Court, a special court, seven high courts, and 14 district courts. Ten buildings were completely destroyed, nine partially damaged, and four sustained minor issues.

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Although our buildings were not physically attacked, the loss of central databases and files from other courts left us unable to conduct full hearings.

Supreme Court spokesperson Arjun Koirala stated that judicial activities were virtually suspended for nearly four months post-protest. "The destruction of vital files and court property brought hearings to a standstill," Koirala said. "Severe damage to our central servers disrupted systems nationwide, preventing the judiciary from achieving its yearly targets." Courts that avoided direct vandalism were still affected by technological breakdowns. Lal Bahadur Kunwar, acting Chief Judge of the Patan High Court, explained that the loss of central databases and files from other courts halted their work for two months, preventing full hearings. Special Court Chairman Sudarshan Dev Bhatta attributed the performance drop to the combined challenges of the riots, infrastructure loss, and judge transfers, noting the substantial time required to restore essential IT equipment and servers.

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The combination of the September riots, infrastructure loss, and scheduled judge transfers hindered our efficiency. It took substantial time to restore essential IT equipment and servers destroyed in the fire.