KATHMANDU: Four former Presidents of the Nepal Bar Association have criticized Prime Minister KP Oli for making defamatory remarks against senior advocate Krishna Prasad Bhandari.

Bhandari is the former president of the Bar Association.

Former Bar presidents, including Shambhu Thapa, Harihar Dahal, Prem Bahadur Khadka, and Sher Bahadur KC issued a joint statement on Sunday terming Prime Minister’s remarks a “gross insult and humiliation” of legal practitioners.

Bhandari had a few days back argued on behalf of the writ petitioner during the debate in the Constitutional Court of the Supreme Court against Prime Minister Oli’s decision to dissolve the House of Representatives.

Issuing a joint statement, the Bar Presidents have said that the Prime Minister’s remarks are a shameless attack on the legal profession.

They have demanded that the Prime Minister should apologize publicly and should also be held accountable for his contempt of court.

“We would like to draw the attention of the concerned authority that the PM should issue a public apology and he should be held accountable for his contempt of court,” they have said in the statement.

Aiming at nonagenarian lawyer taking part in the writ against the dissolution of House of Representatives by the government, PM Oli had said that ‘a baje (used derogatively for an incompetent old man) has been taken to make a spectacle’ referring to the hearing going on in the constitutional bench.

Law scholars in Nepal have denounced PM Oli’s attitude and harsh comment against the court and the legendary lawyer Bhandari.

During Sunday’s hearing in the Constitutional Bench, the Senior Advocate drew the attention of the bench towards the harsh and insulting comments of the PM and demanded that it deserves due attention.