HEADLINE NEWS THE RISING NEPAL (DAILY)

Women’s Bill again passed by Lower House

By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Mar. 14: The women of the nation now can enjoy the rights denied to them for a long time, thanks to the Women’s Bill the House of Representatives approved today. One hundred and forty seven lawmakers in the 205-member Lower House of Parliament voted in favour of the Bill while one vote went against it.

In a major breakthrough, the Bill (The Civil Code, 11th Amendment) got a nod from the Lower House after a protracted struggle and wait for eight years. The Bill will become a law after it receives the Royal Seal.

The Women’s Bill, which was tabled in the National Assembly, was returned without discussion on it to the Lower House. Now the Bill does not need the approval of the Upper House and will be sent for the Royal assent.

With the passage of the revolutionary Bill, the better half of the nation have now been guaranteed the rights to the parental property at par with their male counterparts. Earlier, unmarried daughters were eligible to inherit parental property only after 35 years of age. Now, daughters, like sons, will be eligible for the parental property from the day they are born.

The new Bill has scrapped the conventional system regarding widows’ rights: they do not have to wait until 30 years of their age to get their share of the property unlike before. They also need not return the properties even after they are re-married.

It has also scrapped provisions in which a widow had to wait for 15 years and reach 35 years to become eligible for the inheritance from the dead husband’s family.

Similarly, after the family’s partition, the Bill entrusts guardians with the responsibility to bear the cost for girls’ living, education and health care.

According to the Bill, when a divorce takes place, the partition in the property between the wife and the husband must be done at the time when the divorce is committed, no matter whoever is guilty. It has also provided a woman, whose husband is living with another wife, with the rights to live separately. She can also adopt sons or daughters.

As in the past when a woman with only a son could not give him away for adoption, a woman with only a daughter now can’t give her for adoption.

Scrapping the earlier provision that guaranteed the rights of men to the intested property, females can henceforth also have rights to such property.

The other highlight of the Bill is that it has freed women to choose to abort embryos up to 12 weeks from pregnancy. Likewise, a woman who is pregnant after rape and incest can choose abortion even if her pregnancy may have reached upto 18 weeks.

Moreover, a woman can take a medical expert’s advice and go for abortion at any time in case the woman is likely to face danger of death or deterioration of her mental and physical health as well as in a situation when the baby will be born physically handicapped.

The Bill has increased the jail terms for the rapists of minor girls from five years to 15 years. Those involved in gang rape of a woman or a rapist of a pregnant or an incapable or a disabled woman will get five years’ additional jail term.

Likewise, there are special provisions for safety of rape victims.

Despite all the welcome changes, the women activists rue that the Bill has not been able to wipe out the provision of returning the inheritance to the parents once the girl is married.

When a man gets married for the second time, the first wife and his sons and daughters have to divide the property with the husband’s second wife and her offspring; this provision needs to be amended, advocate Sapana Malla Pradhan said commenting on the Bill.

The women activists, though they welcomed the Bill, expressed their concerns that the Bill has not been able to address the many points of gender discriminations. Advocate Shanta Thapaliya is happy over the passage of the Bill but she is concerned that the Bill has failed to encompass all the women related issues. " Till now a girl was considered like a non-entity but the Bill has guaranteed their rights for parental property and education and well rearing," Thapaliya said.

However, Thapaliya said they were ready to go to the court as the Bill fails to mention women’s rights for the intested property.

Bharati Silwal, an UNDP Assistant Residential Representative, said that the passage of the Bill has reflected the importance of women’s role in the development of the nation, though it has failed to address their whole issues. She said the present Bill is the result of an eight-year long struggle and hinted that the implementation of the Bill will be a challenge.

Other Stories