Kathmandu, July 10:

The Supreme Court today directed government authorities to reform a provision of the Civil Code concerning the penal provision on marital rape and treat husbands who rape their wives on par with other rapists.

A full bench led by Chief Justice Kedar Prasad Giri and Justices Anup Raj Sharma and Bala Ram KC issued the verdict. The bench told the Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet, the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, parliament and the Nepal Law Commission to reform the penal provision on marital rape.

“Do whatever is necessary to amend the discriminatory provision on punishment,” the bench directed while responding to a writ petition filed by Jit Kumari Pangeni Neupane of Makar VDC, Nawalparasi district, and the Forum for Women, Law and Development. The petitioners have demanded punishment for culprits of marital rape on par with other rapists. The petitioners had claimed that Section 3 of the Rape Chapter of the Civil Code, 1963 provided discriminatory punishment to rapists and demanded directives to the government authorities to eliminate the discrimination. Clause 3 of the chapter has provision of a jail term of up to 15 years for a rapist.