Share this
Twitter
Myspace
Digg
Del.icio.us
Slashdot
Furl
Yahoo
Googlize this
Blinklist
Facebook
Wikio
Export PDF
Print
E-mail
An era of Nepal’s democratic constitutionalism ended Wednesday morning when the country bade farewell to a former justice of the Supreme Court for ever amid a heart-moving ritual ceremony in Aryaghat. Leaders of various political parties, justices, lawyers and journalists attended his last rites at Aryaghat or paid tribute to his dead body at the TU Teaching Hospital. 
Laxman Prasad Aryal
Laxman Prasad Aryal, who has influenced virtually every aspect of Nepalese judiciary sector for over 30 years plus, died of cancer, kidney failure and heart ailments around 6:45 in the morning at the age of 75.
During the past four decades of his involvement in the legal sectors, he led the mission for a democratic and independent judiciary. An advocate for efficient justice delivery to common people, Aryal has been one of those top legal eagles frequently mentioned in books, journals, lectures and conversations about Nepalese laws and judiciary.
He was one of the most trusted intellectuals, whose vision of freedom and democracy helped shape the recent democratic transformation and a man who went through the labour pain of giving birth to the country’s two democratic constitutions, writes The Kathmandu Post daily.
Following intensive treatment in various hospitals in Nepal and India, Aryal breathed his last while undergoing treatment at the TU Teaching Hospital. He battled against heart disease, pneumonia and renal failure for a long time but no progress was seen in his health condition for the last few days.
He was very cautious of health. Until recent years a walk in the mornings was a part of his daily schedule, and he was active in his neighborhood.
The country is indebted to Aryal for his legal service which he rendered in the capacity as the justice of the Supreme Court, chairman of the Nepal Bar Association (NBA), member of the Judicial Commission, member of the constitution writing commission in 1990 and convener of the committee that drafted the Interim Constitution 2006. He was also a faculty member at the Nepal Law Campus, Kathmandu.
Legal bandwagons describe him as a man of destiny and remarkable generosity, someone who was down-to-earth and deeply committed to his work. Aryal is one among very few justices Nepal can be proud of in delivering real justice to victims. “I know him as a sincere and honest justice,” said SC Justice Khil Raj Regmi while former Speaker Daman Nath Ghungana remembers Aryal for his commitment to constitutionalism and democracy.
NBA chairman Bishwo Kant Mainali says, “Aryal’s demise is an irreparable loss in the filed of law and justice.” “Aryal was a Nepali Congress activist while he was a student, however, he was not biased against anyone and always upheld democratic ideology,” advocate Satish Krishna Kharel said.
Even after he retired from the service, he continued his active involvement for the cause of democracy and rule of law. In many cases while participating in the civil society activism, Aryal was arrested and sent to jail but these added fuel to his enthusiasm for strengthening democratic culture. He had dared to go jail for 18 days in 1990 movement as well.
He had always opposed the direct rule of the king and powers vested on to the palace. In one of the programmes Aryal had said, "Sovereignty vested in the people is an unchangeable element of the constitution, and is the spirit of the constitution. The palace was against it even before the constitution (1990) was promulgated." A separate draft prepared by the palace had, that time, stated that sovereignty would rest in the king.
He was not only a stubborn supporter of the democracy and rule of law but also an advocate for timely changes in the way justice is delivered. He had said the nation needs to review its justice system to adopt more democratic ways by putting aside existing 'anomalous' legal procedures.
"It's time to review the existing system and adopt new and democratic ways so that both the parties can agree on a verdict," Aryal had said in one of the functions. He had been in active with Mediation Center under the Kathmandu Metropolitan City working closely with people in last years of his life.
Aryal was a supporter of equal rights to women and is remembered leading a bench in a historic verdict criminalising marital rape. He had quashed the discriminatory legal provisions against commercial sex workers and set many principles reducing gender gap.
Aryal had expressed his dissatisfaction on political developments in post-constituent assembly elections period, seeing heinous wrangling within and among the parties over petty issues to the detriment of major agendas such as constitution-writing.
The Supreme Court passed a condolence message on Aryal’s death while lawyers remain off duty on Wednesday to mourn the loss.
Born in Arubari, Kathmandu, Aryal is survived by his wife, two sons and three daughters.
Aryal's demise has brought to a close an important chapter in the history of Nepalese judiciary. But his life's work has opened many more. nepalnews.com
View Comments