The Need for Suo-Motu Cognisance by the Supreme Court against Criminal Offences Affecting Public Health in Nepal: Lessons from a Tragic Medical Case in India

This article examines the critical role of the judiciary, particularly through Suo-Motu cognisance, in addressing public health-related crimes in Nepal, using the recent rape and murder of a female doctor at R.G. Kar Medical College in India as a tragic reference point. The incident underscores the intersection of violent crime, systemic negligence, and public health emergencies, highlighting the urgent need for proactive judicial interventions in similar contexts. Drawing on constitutional mandates, statutory frameworks such as the Public Health Service Act (2018), and comparative jurisprudence from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, the article argues that Nepal's Supreme Court is constitutionally empowered and morally obligated to take suo-motu action in cases where public health and fundamental rights are threatened. The article examines the judiciary’s latent potential to address systemic issues, including violence against healthcare workers, environmental hazards, bureaucratic inaction, and policy gaps, when the executive and legislative branches fail to act swiftly. It stresses that health is not only a social good but a legally protected right under the Constitution of Nepal (2015), which mandates state accountability in safeguarding the physical and mental well-being of its citizens. The conclusion contends that suo-motu interventions can serve as a transformative tool for public health justice and institutional accountability, provided they are exercised judiciously and in alignment with the principle of separation of powers. Accordingly, the article recommends the institutionalisation of suo-motu guidelines specific to public health, capacity-building of judges in public health law, collaborative frameworks among state organs, legal safeguards for healthcare workers, and enhanced public awareness to support judicial activism. In doing so, the judiciary can transcend its traditional adjudicative role and emerge as a responsive guardian of public health and human dignity in Nepal’s evolving democratic and legal landscape.