The document discusses the historical evolution of criminal law in Nepal during the Shah period. It describes the criminal laws during the ruling periods of Ram Shah, Prithvi Narayan Shah, and Rana Bahadur Shah. The laws were based on Hindu scriptures and administered through local assemblies and courts. Punishments included fines, imprisonment, exile, physical torture, and capital punishment depending on the crime and the caste of the offender. While the legal system tried to control crimes and maintain social order, it was primitive and addressed only a few aspects of modern civilization.

1. HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF
CRIMINAL LAW IN NEPAL
HEMANTA BUDHATHOKI
B.A.LL.B. THIRD YEAR
ROLL NO :25
NEPAL LAW CAMPUS
EXHIBITION ROAD,KATHMANDU
TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY
5/12/2012

2. CONTENTS OF THE PRESENTATION
CRIMINAL LAW DURING SHAH PERIOD
 Ruling period of Ram Shah
 Ruling period of Prithvi Narayan Shah
 Ruling period of Rana Bahadur Shah

3. Ruling period of Ram Shah
 Ram Shah ,king of Gorkha formed the rule on the basis of like
Hinduscriptures Manuesmriti,Naradsamhita
Shukraneeti,Chanakyaneeti and Yangyavalkya smriti
 No permanent institution in contemporary Judicial Administration to
implement law
 The ultimate sovereign of the state was king ,administrative and
judicial power vested on the king
 King transferred the some rule to implement by Bhardar ,Chautaria
,Kaji ,Sardar ,Birtawal,Brahmin ,Dharmadhikar ,Khardar and other
local assembly(Sabha) and Kachahari(community meeting)

4. Contd………………………………
The abuse of the right to implement the law was punishable
Provision of Crime and Punishment
 To recovery /return more interest from debtor was illegal and
punishable .
 Five rupees punishment should realized by offender
of turn waiter in tap(drinking water=padhero)
 Five rupees punishment should realized by Tree chopper of
surroundings near tap source

5. Contd……………….
 Royal family members would also be banished from the country
instead of being given death sentence .Khas ,Newar ,Magar and other
communitiies commited to murder Capital punishment and
confiscation of whole of the property
 The witches who were committed the crime – exile ,
 The person not follow cast system – Punished legally

6. Ruling period of Prithvi Narayan Shah
 Continuity of punishment system of Ram Shah.
 Punishment was directly propotional to the degree of crime
 Physical punishment provided to the person who committed to
Pachakhat and other flagrant (Jaghanya ) crime
 Provision of Capital punishment along with confiscation of whole
property to saint ,Sage and women

7. Contd……………………
 Provision of brand along with life imprisionment for Brahmin and
they were degrated the cast ,shaving pigtail, exile and made to be
slave
 Provision of capital Punishment and confiscation of whole property
to the person who committed crime against the king and state
 capital punishment provided to the person who theft and export the
prohibited things like salt and wool

8. Contd………………
 PN Shah ordered capital punishment to the person of the trader
who involved in smuggling
 Provision of “cut into two piece” to insurgent who involved in leak
secrecy about military ,weapon ,income during ware fare and 12
years imprisonment with confiscation of the property in normal
situation
 Provision of cut off hand ,nose ,and damage to other part of body
for Rebellion
 During Unification period ,the family members of robber was
made to slave and used as carrier of millitary

9. Contd…………………..
 Capital punishment and confiscation of the property provided to
those person who are involved in bribery (Ghus khane) and who give
bribe (Ghus dine) of the officials and witness
 Generally cut with weapon to murderer but piercing on forehead and
exile or life imprisionment to Brahmin ,Bhaibhardar,Saint,
Women and Sage
 Incase of Jari marrige, Sadhu had provided right to cut of Jar
.Except Brahmin ,Women who involved in jari marrige had punished
by cutting nose and called as nakati
 Brahmin who got married with widow sister in law (Bhauju)- degraded
from the cast and head shaved and exile

10. Contd…………………………….
 Thagadhari,Knowingly had taken wine (Mata),sacred thread
(JANAI) had removed and degraded to matawali cast.If matawali
had misled for tagadhari to take wine ,they were converted intoslave
.If tagadhari were to be misled to take mata – sacred by taken Patiya
 Bhaiyad ,Pandey,Basnet ,Pantha and Magar involved in murder and
flagrant (Jaghanya) crime -sent to war
 Habitual thief (Twice) to cut off forefinger .
 If any person of untochable cast performed jari marrige ,had to fill
up marrige expenditure,imprision and exile

11. Economic punishment(Fine)
 Brahmin ,Women,Saint and sage who committed flagrant crime –
Economic punishment or exile
 If sadhu did not want to cut jar ,he could left the jar in spite of to fill up
marriage expenditure
 Widow women who got married with man of lower cast was fined
 Slave women involved in theft ,her owner should pay fine equal to
amount of property theft.
 Gambles were punished

12. Contd…………
 Any one provoke to go Sati without win of widow women
were punished
 Economic Punishment for all types of civil crime

13. Ruling period of Rana Bahadur Shah
A.Physical Punishment
 If any Kaji did not worked sincerely ,he was to be dismissed .He was
also to be physically tortured (Vaidhya and Manandhar P. 136)
 The official harassing the people were to be punished by cutting their
hands
 Betrayal (Dhokewaj) of the nation was supposed to be a heinous
(Akshyama) crime
 The Brahmin were to be head shave and non Branmin to beheaded
(cut of head) for the bribery (Ghus) case .Regarding the females they
should be degraded to be lower cast (Vaidhya and Manandhar P.138)

14. Contd…………………………
 The code made by king Ram Shah of Gurkha and revised by Rana
Bahadur Shah specifically sanctions exile of the Branmins and
Sanyasi If they committed murder in the case of others like khas
,Newar,Magar,Muslim and untouchable cast ,Punishment was
provided
 Abortion was strictly prohibited ,the concern women was degraded
and enslave d with cutting her nose
Trafficking in Girl :
 Irrespective of the Motives ,trafficking of girl inside or outside country
was considered as serious crime .Punishment was not fixed but it was
announced that the offender would be Punished in accordance with
their cast

15. Contd………………………………..
Crime against Property
 Offence against others property whether he/she may king
or peasant (Praja) was supposed to be a heinous crime
 The thieves punished for petty thefts by whipping ,fining
and imprisonment for short period
Sexual Offence
Adultery :
Aggrieved husband known as Sadhu was entitled to cut the
adulator known as jar .This provision however was applied
in the case of lower cast

16. Contd…………………..
Incest
 The punishment in the incest cases may be roughly divided into
two groups on the basis of cast system as Brahmins and Non-
Brahmins .For Brahmins usual punishment was banishment while
the non Brahmins were usually given to Punishment
Sexual abuse with Animals
 The concern person was punished at all or was only required to
undergo Prayaschita ,if any person committed sexual abuse with cow

17. Contd………………
Inter –cast sexual abuse
 The Branmins were leniently punished for these crime
whereas other cast were punished morestrictly
Offence Against Religion
 A culprit was taken as sinner and was supposed to have
committed crime not only against the victim but also
against the supreme lord
Witch craft :
 It is said that the witches were given severe punishment by
branding (Damne) their tounge with HOT IRON

18. Contd…………….
Defilement
 Those person who implicated the hi cast people in defilement
however were punished depending on nature of their crime eg
Some Dhobis of Palpa sold mutton to the inhabitant of village
and the government instructed to imposed fine on those
Dhobis as punishment (Vaidhya and Manandhar P.173)

19. Conclusion
Criminal legal system during ruling period of Late
Kings Ram Shah,Prithvi Narayan Shah and Rana
Bahadur Shah had based on Hindu Religious
scriptures. Which tried to control social crime and
tried to maitain social norms and value. But it was so
primitive type of legal system .So that it had
addressed only few dimension of modern human
civilization .

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