KATHMANDU: The violent incidents and arson during the Gen Z protest caused extensive damage to courts and police offices across the country. Critical records, including case files, were reduced to ashes, leaving lasting repercussions for litigants and service seekers.

The destruction has deepened uncertainty and distress for those who had waited years for justice. For many, the loss of documents has erased progress built through time, effort, and faith in the legal system.

During the movement, the records section of the Kathmandu District Court was completely reduced to ashes. The burning of these records destroyed not only the verdicts issued since the establishment of the court but also the original documents summoned as evidence from various bodies along with those files. These included files containing loan documents, petitions, and receipts related to cooperative transactions; case files finalized by judicial committees of local levels; and files summoned as evidence from the case sections of quasi-judicial bodies like the Forest Office, District Administration Office, and Land Revenue Office. It is now impossible to ever retrieve the original or copies of these documents.

One of my male service seekers had a decided case at the Kathmandu District Court. An unknown woman had filed a property claim case against him, claiming to be his wife. The woman had presented a marriage registration document as evidence. The land, which was jointly owned by the service seeker and his brother, had been frozen due to this case. The brother had already taken advance money for the land, but the person who paid the advance is now demanding the return of double the advance amount if the land is not transferred. After an inquiry at the ward office where the marriage was claimed to be registered revealed the registration was fake, the service seeker won the case, but the verdict is yet to be prepared. The service seeker is waiting, hoping for the land to be released. Even though three months have passed since the verdict, there is no clarity on whether his case file remains. With the person who paid the advance constantly pressuring him, the service seeker is under intense mental and financial strain. He calls me every other day to inquire about the case’s status.

Due to the closure of the Kathmandu District Court following the arson, many service-seekers like him have experienced delays in urgent cases. The wife of another service seeker had sought a divorce from abroad. Coincidentally, she had come to Nepal on a one-month vacation, and although her home was in Kathmandu, the closure of the Kathmandu District Court forced her to obtain a temporary residency recommendation from a local unit in Lalitpur and file the case at the Lalitpur District Court. The inability to finalize the case within her limited vacation time has increased her mental stress and financial burden. This incident shows that the distress caused by the arson at the Kathmandu District Court has affected other courts as well.

Due to the closure of the Kathmandu District Court following the arson, many service-seekers like him have experienced delays in urgent cases.

The arson during the Gen Z protest also caused extensive damage to police offices. A woman had filed a complaint regarding a cheque bounce case at the Metropolitan Police Circle, Maharajgunj. However, her original cheque and complaint documents were burned in the arson. She has neither a copy of the cheque nor any proof of the complaint registration. The police have informed her that action will only proceed once a new law is introduced. This uncertainty has further complicated her chances of recovering the money. Such incidents demonstrate that when police office records are destroyed, the path for service-seekers to obtain justice is blocked.

Most of the case files pending at the Supreme Court were destroyed in the arson. These files contained evidence, petitions, and orders collected by the litigants over years of hard work. The Supreme Court has issued the ‘Directive on the Retrieval and Authentication of Case Documents Destroyed Due to Special Circumstances, 2025’ and requested the litigants, their designated legal practitioners, the Office of the Attorney General, the Government Attorney’s Office, the Nepal Bar Association, and other concerned bodies to provide the relevant documents within 60 days. The court has no other means of file retrieval, but collecting all documents through this method is not easy. Not all parties regularly keep copies of the accumulating evidence and orders in a case. Therefore, litigants and legal practitioners do not have all the documents that were in the burned file. There is no custom of keeping copies of all documents, with the mentality of, ‘Why bother? It’s in the file anyway.’ The damage during the Gen Z protest has taught a lesson that copies of documents in the file must be taken in a timely manner. The lack of many documents with any of the parties has created a huge challenge in re-establishing cases and achieving justice.

The destruction following the Gen Z protest clearly exposed the lack of document ‘digitization’ in courts and police offices. Even in today’s digital age, case files in Nepali courts are paper-based. While one can check the status, hearing dates, and verdicts of a case through the online system, documents within the file such as the plaint, written statement, complaint, charge sheet, statements, evidence, and orders are not available online. Moving to an online system means not just being able to check when a hearing date is set but also having the documents within the file available online.

Most of the case files pending at the Supreme Court were destroyed in the arson. These files contained evidence, petitions, and orders collected by the litigants over years of hard work.

Scanners have been arranged in courts to ‘digitize’ documents, but the laziness of the employees has prevented the work from happening. The example of the high-profile refugee case, involving the former home minister and other ministers and leaders, which is pending at the Kathmandu District Court, shows that case documents can be digitized if the effort is made. All documents in this case, including the charge sheet, statements of the accused, statements of witnesses, complaints, and evidence collected by the police, which fill more than two sacks, have been digitized.

Court employees never use the scanners. They only upload the verdict to the online system after a case is finalized, and even then, it is without the judge’s signature. If even the verdict, once finalized, were scanned and uploaded with the judge’s signature and the court seal, it would be much easier for many service seekers and the court itself to use it as evidence. The reason employees upload only the verdict is that verdicts, being written in a Word file, can be converted to a PDF and uploaded with a single click. Uploading the verdict after the judge’s signature and the court seal requires scanning, and who wants to go through that hassle?

The arson during the Gen Z protest has created massive uncertainty for the litigants in pending court cases. Some cases, won after great difficulty, have been reduced to nothing. The destruction of files is expected to cause delays in case hearings, the loss of evidence, and increased financial and mental stress.

Court employees never use the scanners. They only upload the verdict to the online system after a case is finalized, and even then, it is without the judge’s signature.

This crisis has unequivocally exposed the critical lack of digitization and the inherent vulnerabilities of the paper-based process within Nepal’s justice system. The imperative path forward requires immediate action on three fronts: the rapid development of a comprehensive digital system, establishing strict employee accountability, and identifying efficient mechanisms to ensure easy access to justice for all service seekers. To mitigate future risks, all case files, evidence, and verdicts in courts and police offices must be immediately scanned and securely stored in the cloud for robust digital archiving. This profound lesson learned from the Gen Z protest must drive structural reform, playing a significant role in strengthening the national justice system and substantially reducing the severity of any future damage.

– Ghimire is an Advocate