SC Issued directive order

The Supreme Court directed the government authorities including the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to control child marriage.

Responding to a Public Interest Litigation, a special bench of justices Min Bahadur Rayamajhi, Sharada Prasad Pundit and Badri Kumar Basnet issued the order. The bench ordered the Office of the Prime Minster and Cabinet, Ministry of Law Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and Ministry of Women Children and Social Welfare to stop child marriage.

Advocate Mira Dhungana had filed a petition claiming that child marriages are still in practices despite sufficient legal provisions to prohibit the social ill.

Meanwhile, the same bench issued a directive order to the government to maintain consistencies in two laws Marriage Registration Act 2028 and Civil Code 2020 where the age bar for marriage is different. According to Civil Code, male and female should cross the age 22 and 18 respectively while the Marriage Registration Act has put the minimum age for marriage at 20 and 18 respectively.