An Assessment of District Court Decisions on Child Marriage: Exploring Agency, Consent and Justice

Objectives

Child marriage is recognized as a harmful traditional practice and a violation of human rights of children. The law in Nepal has thus, criminalized it. Yet, the implementation of law is very weak as very few cases of child marriage are reported and a few are prosecuted. Meanwhile, the judicial decisions on child marriage in Nepal shows there exists legal inconsistencies in decisions and mostly the self-initiative child marriage is prosecuted.

This research is conducted to assess whether the current legislation was effective in addressing child marriage protecting the rights of adolescents and upholding their agency and providing evidence-based recommendations for legislative reform.

The research involved policy review with study of decisions of child marriage from 10 District Courts across Nepal. The findings illustrates that the minors in this marriage – both girl bride and boy are also prosecuted in the charge of child marriage and if found guilty are punished. Also, in some cases grooms are additionally charged with the crime of rape where the girl is regarded as victim of rape but co-perpetrator in child marriage. Thus, there is an urgent need of legal reform in Nepal in line with the international human rights law.

Findings

This research examines 29 instances of child marriage that resulted in 48 legal decisions by 10 district courts in Nepal between 2021 and 2024. The number of cases exceeds the number of incidents due to multiple charges filed per case and the separate adjudication of adults and minors in different court systems (District Court and Juvenile Bench).

The analysis reveals key patterns in reporting, prosecution, and judicial decisions. Only 7% of cases were reported by the girl herself, while 56% were reported by her family, 20% by the groom’s family (mainly first wives), and 17% by Nepal Police. Most cases (93%) involved self-initiated “love marriages,” while only 4% were forced and 3% falsely reported arranged marriages. The groom was prosecuted in all cases, and the girl bride in 75%.

Relatives of the groom, particularly from lower-caste backgrounds, and priests were occasionally prosecuted. About 38% of cases were prosecuted solely for child marriage; others included charges of polygamy, rape, and abduction. The convicted cases of rape showed the groom belonged to lower-caste, indigenous, and minority groups. Courts convicted 52%, acquitted 42%, and issued partial convictions in 6%. All convicted marriages were annulled, but compensation was awarded in only 12.5% of cases.

Recommendations

Prevention:

• Strengthen community-led prevention by partnering with youth clubs, women’s groups, civil society, and CBOs to address child marriage, dowry, polygamy, caste discrimination, and domestic violence.

• Ensure school retention for children and continued formal education for married adolescents.

• Allocate budgets at the federal, provincial, and local levels to create safe and enabling school environments.

• Train law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges on child rights and child marriage laws.

Prosecution:

• Legally distinguish child marriage types (forced, self-initiated, early) based on consent and adolescent agency.

• Clarify additional charges (rape, polygamy, kidnapping) according to age and consent.

• Prohibit criminal prosecution of minors involved in child marriage; treat them as needing protection.

Protection:

• Amend the Children’s Act (2018) to recognize married children as requiring special protection.

• Ensure compensation, safe housing, and rehabilitation for child brides.

• Regulate custody rights of children born from void marriages.

• Provide options for safe, dignified reintegration with family or alternative care.

Promotion:

• Ensure adolescent-friendly SRHR services and Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE )in all schools.

• Revise laws to reflect the specific needs of adolescents.

• Maintain detailed data/statistics on child marriage trends, including self-initiated child marriage.