Superintendent of Police Chuda Bahadur Shrestha ran into trouble when he chose the subject for his doctoral dissertation. For the last two years, SP Shrestha has been working on a thesis that analyses how the "People's War" waged by the Maoists can be managed by mobilising communities. The police officer, who in the past has won public applause for his work towards curbing the trafficking of women, has already been summoned twice to the headquarters of Nepal's police force regarding his thesis entitled Managing Emergency through Community Approach. And now he fears that the office might unjustly relieve him of his duties.

Shrestha was called up on 30 January and again on 18 April to explain in detail why he chose to conduct research on the Maoist movement, how he would find the time to conduct research without taking a sabbatical from police work that requires officers to be on call around the clock, who is helping him to make contact with the group he is studying, and who is financing his research, among others.

On 20 April, Shrestha filed a writ with the Patan Appellate Court petitioning that his right to remain on the force might be breached by his superiors. A single bench of Judge Bodhari Raj Pande issued a stay order preventing the police HQ from taking departmental action against Shrestha until the court rules on his writ petition.