KATHMANDU, March 14: A writ petition has been filed at the Supreme Court (SC) demanding legal recognition of the live-in relationship.

Advocate Anu Bhattarai has filed the petition at the SC demanding an immediate legal arrangement so that competent and qualified people can stay together in a live-in relationship.

There is no law related to a live-in relationship in Nepal so far. However, as the number of people in live-in relationships in the city is increasing, advocate Bhattarai has filed a writ petition demanding that a law be made to manage it, stating that various problems have appeared.

According to Bhattarai, laws are necessary to reduce the cases of coercion, relationship issues, etc., and to end the practice of treating sexual matters as immoral and character assassination.

"Recognizing the urgent need to regulate and manage live-in relationships in a timely manner, and to liberate society from the mindset that deems the live-in relationship as ‘a misconduct by immoral individuals’ in the absence of legal frameworks, it is essential to protect individuals in such relationships from potential issues, while preserving their dignity, professional responsibilities, and ethical standards. Acknowledging the absence of alternative legal provisions for addressing these concerns, I have approached the honorable court with this writ petition," Advocate Bhattarai has said in the writ petition.

Bhattarai said that in the law related to live-in relationships, it should be determined which age group of people are allowed to be in such a relationship, and whether married women or men are allowed to be in such a relationship should be mentioned in the law itself.

It is demanded in the petition that only men and women of any age group above 18 years of age but unmarried, divorced, widowed, and living a single life for any other reason should be considered legally eligible for a live-in relationship.

It has also been demanded that the matter of personal privacy to be maintained during the time of separation after living as a couple should be mentioned in a clear law and if the need to get separated is different due to mutual consent or due to family pressure or personal reasons, the basis and reason to get separated should be made clear.

The first hearing on the petition which was registered at the SC on Thursday will take place on March 17.

 
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