House Rejects NSP Proposal

-By Our Correspondent

The House of Representatives has rejected the proposal forwarded by MP Hridayesh Tripathy of Nepal Sadvawana Party (NSP) to amend the provisions of the Constitution regarding the distribution of citizenship certificates.

NSP wants to have provisions in the Constitution to entitle citizenship certificates to even the suspicious persons without screening them. It has not agreed with the Bill proposed by the government regarding the Amendment of Citizenship Act-2020. The NSP leaders claim that more than 4 million people are still deprived of citizenship certificates.

As per the recommendations of the High Level Citizenship Commission and the Recommendation Enforcement Committee, the government had registered a Bill regarding the Amendment of Citizenship Act-2020 with the Parliament Secretariat to simplify the processes of distributing citizenship certificate.

According to the provisions of the proposed Bill, a person from the Nepalese origin can get the citizenship certificate even if his/her father has not taken it. But in the existing provision, one must submit the father’s citizenship certificate to the concerned official to receive his/her citizenship certificate.

In the proposed Bill, a person can file lawsuit at the Appellate Court within 35 days if the Chief District Officer does not give him/her the certificate. Besides, one can get his/her name, age and caste changed in his certificate. For this, one has to submit necessary evidences to the Chief District Officer.

The Bill has also made some new provisions for the foreigners taking the Nepalese citizenship certificates.

Moreover, the Bill has proposed different types of punishment for those involved in giving and taking false citizenship. But the existing laws contain provisions to mete out similar types of punishment to those involved in such activities.

Minmin's Ordeals Over

-By Our Correspondent

After being imprisoned for about 20 months under the charge of abortion, Minmin Lama, 16, was released last week.

A joint bench of judges Madhav Thapa and Ram Prasad Khanal at the Lalitpur Appellate Court issued a verdict that Minmin was innocent.

"I am very happy now as I am released from the jail," Minmin says.

Minmin, who comes from Sishapani village of Kavrepalanchowk district, after she was raped by her sister-in-law's brother, a tempo driver. She used to live with her brother and sister-in-law at Satdobato, Lalitpur.

She says that she had told her sister-in-law about her brother’s activity and her pregnancy, but her in-law refused to believe her saying her brother was not like that. She even forced Minmin to take some medicine to abort pregnancy. "But it failed, and she gave birth to a child. But her sister-in-law threw the baby away and instead filed a lawsuit against me at the Lalitpur district court," Minmin says. The court four her guilty and sentenced her to 12 years imprisonment for being a minor.

But her case was taken up by some lawyers -- Radheshyam Adhikary, Kabita Basnet and Yogendra Bahadur Adhikary. They had petitioned her case at the Appellate Court at Lalitpur, and finally she was found 'not guilty'.

Several organisations like the Family Planning Association Nepal (FPAN), Women’s Inspiration Community, Prison Assistance Mission also extended support to Minmin.

Minmin is only one of those women, who are in jail for abortion. Sunil Kumar Bhandari, Chairman of FPAN and former law-maker, who had registered a Bill regarding the legalization of abortion at the Parliament Secretariat, says "Two-third of the total women prisoners in Nepal are in the prisons due to abortion-related cases. So, we are demanding the amendments in the abortion-related laws." FPAN has also been advocating for the legalization of abortion. After her release, FPAN has even offered her a job saying her case was a symbolic one.

Minmin's mother died when she was six months old. But her father, stepmother and five brothers are alive. But she does not want to go home. "Because my family has no sympathy and positive attitude towards me."

Minmin’s case has even been internationalized. Two films have been made on her life story. International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and APN, in collaboration with the FPAN, have produced a film about her life. BBC World Service has also produced similar film based on her life story.