Supreme Court of Nepal
Highest court in Nepal
Follow Supreme Court of Nepal on Notably News to receive short updates to your email — rarely!
October 6 2024 | First marriage between two men occurs: Prajeet Budhathoki and Joseph Foster (a U.S. citizen) marry in Dharan, Sunsari District, marking a significant milestone with a gender-neutral marriage license. |
October 2 2024 | Transgender couple Sampurna Adhikari and Heema Gurung marry in Devachuli, Nawalpur District. |
September 28 2024 | Anjali Thapa Pokhara and Laxmi Silwal Raj (a third gender person) marry in Rupa, Kaski District. |
August 18 2024 | Transgender couple China Nepali and Jyoti Sarki get married in Rampur, Palpa District. |
April 24 2024 | Home Affairs' National ID and Civil Registration Department issues a circular instructing local registration authorities to enter all same-sex marriages into a separate register. |
March 14 2024 | A first hearing on same-sex marriage rights was expected to begin at the Supreme Court. |
February 12 2024 | First marriage between two women occurs: Suprita Gurung and Anju Devi Shrestha marry in Badhaiyatal, Bardiya District. |
2023 | Sunil Babu Pant publicly criticized the legislative inaction, highlighting that despite a committee's report recommending full marriage equality in 2015, the government and parliament had taken no action. |
December 22 2023 | Prakash Chaudhary (a transgender man) and Manila Neupane (a transgender woman) get married in Kailari, Kailali District. |
November 2023 | The Ministry of Home Affairs allowed a local administration office to register Maya Gurung and Surendra Pandey's marriage, with a temporary registration. |
November 29 2023 | A same-sex couple successfully registers their marriage in Dordi, marking a significant milestone for LGBTQ+ rights in Nepal. |
July 13 2023 | A district court in Kathmandu initially denies a same-sex couple's application to marry. |
June 28 2023 | Supreme Court Justice Til Prasad Shrestha directs the government to establish a 'separate register' for sexual minorities and non-traditional couples, instructing temporary registration until a full Supreme Court verdict. |
June 7 2023 | Pinky Gurung and eight other applicants file a public interest litigation seeking the legalization of same-sex marriage in Nepal at the Supreme Court. |
March 20 2023 | Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling ordering government recognition of Pokharel and Volz's marriage, directing the government to draft legislation for full marriage equality and declaring laws banning same-sex marriage unconstitutional and discriminatory. |
July 1 2020 | The National Human Rights Commission again called on the government to introduce a same-sex marriage bill. |
2018 | The National Code of Nepal is enacted, explicitly defining marriage as between a man and a woman. |
October 2018 | Nepali national Adhip Pokharel and German national Tobias Volz married in Germany. |
August 2018 | Former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai urged the government to legalize same-sex marriage. |
October 23 2017 | Supreme Court ruled in Suman Pant v. Ministry of Home Affairs that foreign nationals with valid marriage licenses to Nepali citizens are eligible for NT Visa, regardless of gender, affirming the fundamental right to live with dignity without discrimination. |
July 2017 | Monica Shahi, a third gender person, and Ramesh Nath successfully registered their marriage in Parshuram, Dadeldhura District, despite uncertainty about its legal validity. |
March 2017 | Melnyk and Pant filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court challenging the DOIM's visa denial. |
December 2016 | Leslie Louise Melnyk, an American citizen married to Nepalese national Suman Pant, applied for a 'Non-Tourist Visa' with the Department of Immigration (DOIM) as a dependent. The DOIM initially accepted but later denied the request, citing lack of legal recognition for same-sex marriage. |
October 2016 | The Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare created a committee to prepare a draft bill on same-sex marriage. |
February 2016 | The National Human Rights Commission formally requested the government to introduce a bill allowing same-sex marriage. |
2015 | The Constitution of Nepal was approved, which did not directly address same-sex marriages but recognized LGBT people as a protected group under 'gender and sexual minorities'. |
September 16 2015 | The Constituent Assembly approves a constitution that includes 'gender and sexual minorities' as a protected category, though it does not specifically address same-sex marriages. |
February 9 2015 | The committee submitted its official report to the government recommending same-sex marriage legalization. |
August 2014 | The Associated Press reported that the committee recommended legalizing same-sex marriage. Minister of Justice Narahari Acharya also said his ministry would present a bill to allow same-sex marriages. |
February 10 2014 | Sushil Koirala was elected as prime minister with a large majority, breaking the political deadlock and opening the way for the constitution to be finalized. |
January 2014 | Chaitanya Mishra, a committee member studying international same-sex marriage laws, stated that the report was nearly complete, with only a summary remaining to be drafted by committee chairman Laxmi Raj Pathak. |
November 19 2013 | Elections were held for the Constituent Assembly after multiple previous delays. |
2012 | Negotiations among political factions failed to include LGBT-inclusive language in the constitution, and the drafting process was placed on hold until new elections were held. |
May 28 2012 | Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai dissolved the Constituent Assembly in preparation for the 2013 elections. |
2011 | During the country's political transition, there was an attempt to add LGBT-inclusive language to the proposed constitution, following a demand by the Supreme Court. |
2011 | A lesbian couple held a traditional Hindu marriage ceremony at the Dakshinkali Temple near Kathmandu, though the marriage had no legal status at the time. |
This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia article Same-sex marriage in Nepal, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.