SC scraps provision of divorce on infertility
The Supreme Court (SC) scrapped a provision in the Civil Code 1963 that allows men to seek divorce on the grounds of women’s infertility terming it as contrary to the constitutional guarantee to equality.
Acting upon a one-year old public interest litigation filed by advocates Mira Dhungana and Shree Dhar Parajuli, a three-member bench comprising justices Kedar Prasad Giri, Khil Raj Regmi and Sharada Shrestha held that the provision was discriminatory and violated women’s rights and declared it inconsistent with the Constitution of 1990.
As per Section 1(1) under Husband and Wife Chapter of the Civil Code 1963, a married man can seek divorce after 10 years of marriage if a government medical board proves his wife's infertility.
The court also ordered the government to promulgate an equal law on the husband and wife Chapter of the Civil Code 1963.
The petitioners claimed that the provision was discriminatory as it did not allow women to seek divorce if their husbands were impotent. They argued that the provision was a result of the discriminatory and patriarchal thinking of the state authorities.
They also claimed that it was a violation of Article 11 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to equality between men and women. nepalnews.com pb Mar 31 06
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