Sushila Karki, a Banaras Hindu University (BHU) alumna and Nepal’s first woman chief justice, was sworn in tonight as the country’s interim prime minister, a dramatic turn in Nepal’s political history following days of nationwide protests that forced KP Sharma Oli to resign.
Her appointment, finalised after consultations between President Ramchandra Paudel, leaders of Nepal’s ‘Gen-Z’ protest movement, and Army chief General Ashok Raj Sigdel, marks a rare moment where a jurist with no political background has been catapulted to the highest executive office.
Karki, 73, holds a master’s degree in political science from BHU, where she studied between 1973 and 1975. It was during this time that she met Durga Prasad Subedi, a youth leader of the Nepali Congress, who later became her husband, as per a report by NDTV.
Karki’s legal career began in Biratnagar before she was appointed a temporary judge of Nepal’s Supreme Court in 2009, becoming a permanent judge the next year. In July 2016, she made history as the first woman chief justice of Nepal.
Her tenure was defined by a zero-tolerance approach to corruption. She presided over several landmark cases, including the conviction of Information and Communications Minister Jaya Prakash Prasad Gupta in a corruption case.
In 2017, she faced an impeachment motion filed by lawmakers from the then-ruling coalition, but returned to office after public protests and a Supreme Court intervention halted the proceedings.
Protests that brought her to power
Karki’s appointment follows one of the most turbulent weeks in Nepal’s recent history. At least 51 people were killed and over 1,300 were injured as police opened fire on demonstrators protesting a nationwide social media ban, a move widely seen as an attempt to suppress dissent.
The ban was revoked, but protests swelled until former Nepal PM Oli stepped down. Shops in Kathmandu have now reopened, and security forces have started withdrawing from the streets.
