One of the female constables from among the crowd of security personnel came to this reporter and said, "I wish I could also participate in this protest and fight for the equal rights for women."She further added, "My job as a police does not allow me to express solidarity to this cause. I will be suspended if I participated in this protest demanding rights for women to transfer citizenship to their children."
Afterwards, she and other police personnel took their positions to safeguard the 'No Entry Zone' as a large number of people flocked in front of Bakery Café, at New Baneshwar, where the demonstration was to take place.
The protesters slept on the six lane road of New Baneshwar and chanted slogans calling on the lawmakers to include provisions in the new constitution that would ease the process of the transfer of citizenship from mother to her children.
Later, the protest turned into a corner assembly where women right activists reiterated to continue their struggle until the government promises to bring women-friendly constitution.
As the big parties are nearing toward consensus on the contentious issues of the upcoming constitution, people representing various groups have started demonstrations to assert their rights in the new constitution.
As per the draft constitution, mother and father both have to be a Nepali citizen to be able to bequeath their child citizenship by descent. Such a provision would put a child at a disadvantage if his/her father refuses to support them or is absent for various reasons.
Also, the draft constitution has unequal provisions regarding citizenship for non-Nepali daughter-in-law and son-in-law.
Women rights activists have been stating that the draft constitution is a regressive one as it curtails the previous rights granted by the Interim Constitution of Nepal. The Citizenship Act (2006) and the Interim Constitution (2007) of Nepal had much flexible provisions allowing either father or mother to pass on the citizenship to their children by descent.
Several women rights organizations, such as Forum for Women, Law and Development (FWLD) and WOREC, have been organizing demonstrations and debates to draw attention of the lawmakers.
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