Is Nepal Inching Towards Legalising Same-Sex Marriage?

International

oi-Sanjeev Nayak

In what could be seen as a significant step towards fully legalising homosexual marriages in Nepal, the country’s Supreme Court has issued an interim order instructing the government to temporarily allow registration of same-sex marriages.

Presiding over a single-judge Bench, Justice Til Prasad Shrestha yesterday directed the offices of the Prime Minister, Council of Ministers and other relevant ministries to establish a “transitional mechanism” to ensure the registration of marriages for “same-sex couples”.

To help the government implement the directive, the apex court asked it to establish a “separate register of marriages” for such couples from gender minority communities. In the order, the court has also asked the opponents to furnish a written reply on the issue within 15 days.

“This is a very significant development as same-sex as well as third genders and their partners can register their marriages. They will be entitled to the same rights as heterosexual couples. Parliament may take a while to pass the marriage equality law but this order gives a practical solution to members of the sexual and gender minority communities who wish to register their marriage legally,” the Hindu quoted Sunil Babu Pant, a member of Nepal’s parliament, as saying.

The interim ruling from the court came after the Bench heard a writ petition in the form of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by LGBTI activist Pinky Gurung, who heads an organisation called Blue Diamond Society, and six others earlier this month .

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The petitioners said that they filed the writ as the Nepalese law has obstructed same-sex marriage despite a Supreme Court decision, which allowed such marriages 15 years ago.

Citing that Clause 69 (1) of the National Civil Code 2017 mentions that each individual citizen has the freedom to marry and as per Clause 18 (1) of the Nepalese Constitution 2015, all citizens are equal in the eyes of the law, the petitioners have demanded the legalisation of the same-sex marriage.

Now with this SC order, same-sex marriage can be registered until and unless specific laws are formulated to give recognition to the sexual and gender minority couples, said Gurung while talking to the media following the court’s order.

Though the Supreme Court had allowed same-sex marriage through an order one and a half decades ago, in the absence of a specific law, the provision could not be implemented, which forced the third-gender people to go to court.