Kathmandu, 4 February (HS): The National Women’s Commission has objected to the government’s proposal to reduce the marriage age of girls from 20 to 18 years in Nepal. Preparations are underway to take a decision in the Parliamentary Committee soon on the Law Ministry’s proposal to reduce the marriage age of girls and present it in the Parliament.
On Monday, the National Women’s Commission Chairperson Kamal Parajuli wrote a letter to the country’s Law Minister Ajay Chaurasia demanding the withdrawal of the proposal to reduce the marriage age of girls. In her two-page letter, the Women’s Commission Chairperson has written that reducing the marriage age of girls on the basis of sexual relations in marriage is not right in any way.
The National Women’s Commission has said that according to the existing provisions of the Constitution of Nepal, the marriage age of boys and girls should be 20 years. Parajuli has written in her letter that marriage is not just for having sex but it is more emotional for girls. She has said that a 20 year old girl is not only emotionally strong but she is also self-dependent and can understand her economic and social situation better.
At present, the argument given by the Law Ministry for reducing the marriage age of girls from 20 years to 18 years is that this has increased the number of live-in relationships and in such a situation, cases of filing cases against each other and their responsibility after the birth of a child have increased a lot. It is also written in the proposal of the Law Ministry that due to 20 years being the marriage age, there has been a significant increase in false cases of rape and sexual misconduct by girls against boys.
But the National Commission for Women has rejected these arguments of the Law Ministry and is in favor of continuing the age of 20 years for marriage. The commission argues that apart from other subjects, a curriculum should be made in the school curriculum to teach practical knowledge of social and marital life.
Hindusthan Samachar
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