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Kathmandu Wednesday October 10, 2001 Ashwin 24, 2058.
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House approves property rights Bill amid protests
Bill also legalizes abortion under specific cases
By Binaj Gurubacharya
KATHMANDU, Oct 9 – Amid boycott by the main opposition CPN-UML and
protests by other smaller opposition parties, the House of Representatives today approved
the 11th Amendment to the Muluki Ain (Civil Code) which purports to grant a semblance of
property rights to daughters.
The same Bill also legalises abortion under certain cases, overturning the
complete ban on abortion hitherto in effect. The new law would help control the high
maternal mortality in Nepal, half of which is blamed on unsafe abortion
The passage of the Bill however did not go down well with the communist
opposition which decried the government’s backtracking on a key provision which
granted daughters right to keep parental property even after getting married. Despite
promises the governing Nepali Congress later back tracked on the provision, firing the
opposition’s ire.
"The Bill is against the rights given by the Constitution and there is
no point in getting such a Bill through Parliament," CPN-UML’s Asta Laxmi Shakya
said before all the lawmakers from the party boycotted the House proceedings in protest.
Lawmakers of the National People’s Front and United People’s Front
shouted slogans while Rastriya Prajatantra Party did not participate in the protests.
The Bill was presented for voting by Minister Chiranjivi Wagle on behalf of
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, who also holds the Ministry for Women, Children and
Social Welfare.
The Bill that was adopted today by the Lower House still has some way to go
before it becomes law. The Upper House has also to pass it, and finally King Gyanendra
must grant the royal assent before the Bill becomes law. Only then can daughters stake
equal claim on parental property.
The existing laws says that women have to be 35 years old and remain
unmarried until that point if they are to stake claim on parental property. But once
married, the property has to be returned. Now women will be able to get their share once
they become adult. They do not have to remain unmarried till the age of 35.
The provision on abortion as prescribed in the Bill enables women to abort up
to 12 weeks of pregnancy with their husband’s consent. In the case of pregnancy
resulting from rape or incest, pregnancy up to 18 weeks may be terminated.
In the cases where pregnancy poses danger to the physical and mental health
of mothers or if medical reports prove that foetuses are damaged leading to the birth of a
disabled child, abortion is permitted in any time with the consent of the pregnant woman.
However, if in case anyone is found testing to find the sex of the foetus
with the intention of aborting, they could face three-to-six months of prison sentence and
if abortion is carried out on the basis of sex of the foetus then the punishment is
additional one year.
This is to discourage the growing discriminatory practice in the society to
give preference to male child over the females and abort if found the child could be a
girl.
"This trend that follows the western culture would only start sexual
anomalies in the society," Angur Baba Joshi, a right-to-life activist told The
Kathmandu Post. "It is not an issue that should have been decided so easily but
rather there should have been a national referendum."
Activists like Joshi argue against the idea of legalising abortion and say it
is equal to legalising the killing of human being. They say abortion violates the human
rights of the unborn baby. But supporters of the Bill, and there are many here, interpret
abortion as women’s fundamental right — a right to choose — and women
should not be deprived of it.
Nepal remains one of only eight countries in the world that not only deprives
women their right to choose but also criminalizes women for having abortions.
While the exact number who have served prison terms for abortion is
unavailable, it is estimated that anywhere from 20 per cent up to two-thirds of the women
presently incarcerated here have been convicted of undergoing an illegal abortion.
Meanwhile, the women’s department of the All Nepal National Free Student
Union torched a copy of the Bill in Kathmandu to register their protest against the
"incomplete" Bill. The activists also accused the government of continuing
discriminatory practices against women.
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