SC order on citizenship

Kathmandu, Sept 16 - The Supreme Court in a historic verdict on Thursday ordered the government to provide citizenship to every Nepali child born within the country whose parents are unknown.

The special bench comprising justices Anup Raj Sharma, Sharada Prasad Pandit and Arjun Prasad Singh issued the order today in connection to separate writ petitions filed at the Court.

As per Article 9 (2) of the Constitution of 1990, any child, born or found within the Nepalese territory shall be acknowledged as Nepali citizen by their ancestry till the identification of their parents."Every child who is found within the Kingdom of Nepal and the whereabouts, of whose parents are not known shall be recognized as a citizen of Nepal by descent until the father of the child is traced' reads the provision.

Similarly, the Court issued an order to implement the report prepared and indicated by a government-formed committee to investigate on the condition of Badi women and their children. Likewise, the Court has instructed the government to omit the provision of registering system of Birth and Death Certificate Registration Act 2033, where only the male guardians could register the birth or death of their children. After implementation of the order any guardians either male or female can register for their children.

The Court has decided that the previous provision to register the birth and death certificate only by male has been quashed with the right to equality of the Article 11 of the Constitution.

The Court also instructed the government to guarantee the rights including education and health of Badi women and their children. On behalf of the non-governmental organisation of Dalit, Dil Bahadur Bishwokarma and advocate Prakash Mani Sharma of Pro-Public had filed separate petitions at the Court regarding the issues and problems of Badi women.

The writ was filed at the Court seeking its order to the government to provide citizenship to Badi women and their children along with women guardians having the right to register the birth and death certificates of their children.

The verdict will now guarantee the rights of citizenship to a child even if he/she is born out of a rape.

Many children born to women of the Badi community, who are involved in prostitution due to economic and social backwardness, have been deprived of citizenship as of now.The community is found in Banke, Bardiya, Kanchanpur, Kailali and Dang districts.