Nepal’s SC refuses interim relief to Oli

Kathmandu: Nepal’s Supreme Court on Monday refused to provide interim relief to former Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, arrested over the 2025 Gen Z movement crackdown, even as protests continued in Nepal over his detention.

Oli and former home minister Ramesh Lekhak were arrested on Saturday for their alleged involvement in suppressing the Gen Z movement of September 8 and 9 last year, in which 76 people were killed.

In response to a habeas corpus petition filed by Oli’s wife, Radhika Shakya, claiming her husband’s detention is unlawful, a single bench of Justice Meghraj Pokharel refused to issue an interim order for Oli’s release. The apex court instead asked the authorities to submit a written explanation clarifying the legal grounds for his detention.

The court gave a similar ruling to a habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of former home minister Ramesh Lekhak.

The arrests came after the newly formed Balendra Shah government decided to implement the report of the probe commission into the Gen Z protests in its first cabinet meeting.

Hundreds of members of Oli’s Communist

Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Lennist) and their sister organisations and student wings gathered at Naya Baneshwor area on Monday morning carrying placards that read “Immediately release KP Oli,” and “End the politics of revenge.” Monday’s protest rally was comparatively peaceful, unlike the protests organised by the party on

Saturday and Sunday.