KATHMANDU, Mar 24 : The Nepal government is preparing to lower the minimum age for marriage from 20 years to 18 years or lessen the penalty for child marriage, according to a media report on Monday.
The Kathmandu Post newspaper said the government concluded that the current age limit of 20 years has only increased rape cases and it is preparing to revise Child Act and the Criminal Code.
Law Minister Ajay Chaurasia said, “The government is working to register the bill in the ongoing session. We are in the final phase of discussions with medical and psychological experts.”
Explaining before the Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee of the House of Representatives on Sunday, Minister for Home Affairs Ramesh Lekhak said the government is giving a final touch to the amendment.
“The present age limit is not working. It needs to be lowered,” he said. “The government was working on two modalities. First, lower the minimum age or second, opt for the Romeo and Juliet law.”
The Rome and Juliet law, which is in practice in various states in the US, envisions creating an exception to statutory rape for two young people who do not have a large age gap.
For instance, if the minimum age for marriage is 18, there can be consensual sex between the partners who don’t have an age gap more than two or three years.
The Criminal Code says a marriage is concluded or caused to be concluded only when the two parties have attained 20 years of age.
“A person who flouts the law shall be liable to a sentence of imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years and a fine not exceeding Rs 30,000,” says section 173 of the code.
Similarly, Criminal Procedure Code 2017 states that establishing sexual relationship with a girl under 18 years of age even with her consent is regarded as rape.
Therefore, hundreds of boys who have a love marriage or marriage in consent with girls below 18 have been charged with child marriage and rape.
In 2022, then law minister Govinda Koirala Bandi had argued that that was no point in having 20 years as the minimum age for marriage while one gets citizenship at 16 and can vote at 18.
Several lawmakers had sought to lower the age limit to 18. However, that couldn’t materialise.
During Sunday’s meeting of the House committee, lawmakers supported the government’s plan to lower the minimum age limit. (PTI)
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