{"id":14292,"date":"2026-01-28T23:07:35","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T17:22:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/?p=14292"},"modified":"2026-01-28T23:11:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T17:26:03","slug":"forced-lives-or-equal-marriages-nepals-supreme-court-must-decide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/forced-lives-or-equal-marriages-nepals-supreme-court-must-decide\/","title":{"rendered":"Forced Lives or Equal Marriages? Nepal\u2019s Supreme Court Must Decide"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Magh 29 2082 (February 12 2026), Nepal\u2019s Supreme Court will hold a full bench hearing on the legality of registering same-sex marriages.<\/p>\n<p>On June 26, 2023 (Ashar 12, 2080), the Court issued an interim order allowing same-sex couples to register their marriages under a temporary record system. Following this order, some local governments began registering same-sex marriages.<\/p>\n<p>However, another petition was later filed by a lawyer, called Yuvaraj Safal, challenging this order, arguing that same-sex marriage registration is illegal under existing law. Hon.justice Sapana Malla and Hon.justice Sunil Pokherl&#8217;s bench, in their last judgement few months ago, decided that the case raises serious constitutional and legal questions, the supreme court referred it to a full bench.<\/p>\n<p>Magh 29 2082 (February 12 2026)\u2019s hearing will decide:<\/p>\n<p>Whether same-sex marriage registration is legally valid,<\/p>\n<p>What the legal status is of marriages already registered under the interim order,<\/p>\n<p>And whether Nepal\u2019s Constitution\u2019s guarantees of equality and freedom to marry include same-sex couples.<\/p>\n<p>This makes Magh 29 2082 (February 12 2026)\u2019s hearing not just a legal proceeding, but a historic moment for equality, dignity, and human rights in Nepal.)<\/p>\n<p>**********************<\/p>\n<p>Supreme Court Hearing on Magh 29 2082 (February 12 2026) on Marriage Equality is not just a court date \u2014 it is a moral test<\/p>\n<p><strong>By Sunil Babu Pant<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A. Marriage Equality Is Not Against Heterosexual Marriage \u2014 It Is Against Forced Lives, Silent Suicides, and Stolen Futures.<\/p>\n<p>Marriage equality is not a threat to heterosexual marriage.<\/p>\n<p>It does not weaken families.<\/p>\n<p>It does not \u201cconvert\u201d anyone.<\/p>\n<p>It does not erase culture.<\/p>\n<p>It does not destroy society.<\/p>\n<p>What it does is far more simple \u2014 and far more urgent:<\/p>\n<p>1. It allows one homosexual man who loves another homosexual man to live with dignity.<\/p>\n<p>2. It allows one lesbian woman who loves another woman to form a family without fear.<\/p>\n<p>3. It allowes a third gender person to marry a person they love.<\/p>\n<p>4. It allows people to stop living lies.<\/p>\n<p>5. It saves lives.<\/p>\n<p>B. The woman who died quietly<\/p>\n<p>She was a successful athlete. Strong. Disciplined. Respected.<\/p>\n<p>But when her family discovered she was in love with another woman, her achievements meant nothing.<\/p>\n<p>They rushed her into a marriage with a man \u2014 against her will, against her truth, against her heart.<\/p>\n<p>She did not protest publicly.<\/p>\n<p>She did not write slogans.<\/p>\n<p>She did not file a case.<\/p>\n<p>She died quietly.<\/p>\n<p>Was marriage \u201cprotected\u201d that day?<\/p>\n<p>Or was a human life destroyed to preserve a lie?<\/p>\n<p>C.  The judge who could not stand his own justice<\/p>\n<p>A few years ago, a senior judge \u2014 someone who delivered justice from the bench \u2014 took his own life.<\/p>\n<p>Why?<\/p>\n<p>Because his son discovered his relationship with another man.<\/p>\n<p>Because he could not face his family.<\/p>\n<p>Because he could not live the justice he preached.<\/p>\n<p>A man who upheld the Constitution could not uphold his own truth.<\/p>\n<p>Was law preserved that day?<\/p>\n<p>Or was socital-hypocrisy exposed?<\/p>\n<p>D. The invisible victims: women trapped in forced marriages<\/p>\n<p>Thousands of gay men in Nepal are forced to marry women they do not love.<\/p>\n<p>Some cannot even have physical relationships.<\/p>\n<p>Some turn to painful, unnatural arrangements \u2014 artificial insemination, or finding another man to secretly impregnate their wife \u2014 just to prove they are \u201cnormal,\u201d just to survive society\u2019s cruelty.<\/p>\n<p>And what about the women?<\/p>\n<p>1. Women who unknowingly marry homosexual men.<\/p>\n<p>2. Women deprived of love, intimacy, honesty, and companionship.<\/p>\n<p>3. Women whose reproductive rights, emotional lives, and dignity are stolen \u2014 not by their husbands,<\/p>\n<p>but by society\u2019s denial.<\/p>\n<p>Who speaks for their rights?<\/p>\n<p>Marriage equality is not only about GSM\/LGBTI people.<\/p>\n<p>It is also about heterosexual women trapped in fraudulent marriages they never consented to. And Heterosexual men who are marrying a lesbian woman who never loves her husband because she loves another woman. <\/p>\n<p>E. Marriage equality does NOT:<\/p>\n<p>Turn heterosexuals into homosexuals.<\/p>\n<p>End heterosexual marriage.<\/p>\n<p>Replace family values.<\/p>\n<p>Destroy culture.<\/p>\n<p>People do not become gay because marriage equality exists.<\/p>\n<p>They become honest.<\/p>\n<p>People do not abandon heterosexual marriage.<\/p>\n<p>They abandon forced marriages.<\/p>\n<p>F. Marriage equality DOES:<\/p>\n<p>Prevent forced marriages.<\/p>\n<p>Reduce suicides.<\/p>\n<p>Protect women.<\/p>\n<p>Protect children.<\/p>\n<p>Promote honesty.<\/p>\n<p>Strengthen families \u2014 real families, not fake ones.<\/p>\n<p>Align law with lived reality.<\/p>\n<p>Restore dignity.<\/p>\n<p>G. Magh 29 2082 (February 12 2026) is not just a court date \u2014 it is a moral test<\/p>\n<p>Magh 29 2082 (February 12 2026) is a crucial day \u2014 not only for Nepal\u2019s GSM\/LGBTI community, but for the judiciary itself.<\/p>\n<p>This is not merely a legal case.<\/p>\n<p>It is a question of conscience.<\/p>\n<p>Will our judges stand with justice \u2014 or will they continue to witness silent suicides?<\/p>\n<p>Will they protect families \u2014 or protect falsehoods?<\/p>\n<p>Will they uphold dignity \u2014 or defend discrimination?<\/p>\n<p>The Constitution speaks of equality.<\/p>\n<p>Humanity speaks of love.<\/p>\n<p>History speaks of justice.<\/p>\n<p>Now the court must speak too.<\/p>\n<p>H. Marriage equality is not about changing who you love.<\/p>\n<p>It is about allowing people to love who they already are.<\/p>\n<p>And that \u2014 far from destroying society \u2014 is what saves it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Magh 29 2082 (February 12 2026), Nepal\u2019s Supreme Court will hold a full bench hearing on the legality of registering same-sex marriages.<br \/>\nOn June 26, 2023 (Ashar 12, 2080), the Court issued an interim order allowing same-sex couples to register their marriages under a temporary record system. Following this order, some local governments began registering same-sex marriages.<br \/>\nHowever, another petition was later filed by a lawyer, called Yuvaraj Safal, challenging this order, arguing that same-sex marriage registration is illegal under existing law. Hon.justice Sapana Malla and Hon.justice Sunil Pokherl&#8217;s bench, in their &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":14293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,1081,8,621,490,3,2065],"tags":[457],"class_list":["post-14292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-issue","category-explanationawareness","category-human-rights","category-news","category-slider","category-society","category-top-stories","tag-supreme-court"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14292"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14297,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14292\/revisions\/14297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}