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

Objectives

Child marriage is recognised as a harmful traditional practice and a violation of the human rights of children. The law in Nepal has thus criminalised it. Yet, the implementation of the 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 show that there exist 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, upholding their agency and providing evidence-based recommendations for legislative reform. It involves a policy review with a study of decisions on child marriage from 10 District Courts across Nepal.

The findings illustrate that the minors in this marriage, both the girl bride and the boy, are also prosecuted for 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.

There is an urgent need for legal reform in Nepal that aligns with international human rights law.

Findings

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% of cases. All convicted marriages were annulled, but compensation was awarded in only 12.5% of cases.

Findings highlight systemic caste bias, ignoring the agency and evolving capacity of adolescents in self-initiative and marriage and legal dilemmas resulting from absolute criminalisation, signalling an urgent need for legal reform aligned with international human rights standards.

Recommendations

The Nepal government shall do the following interventions:

Prevention:

• Strengthen multi-sectoral and 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:

• Clearly 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 in child marriage.

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

Protection:

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

• Ensure compensation, safe housing, and rehabilitation for child brides in case to case basis.

• Regulate custody rights of children born from child marriage.

• Provide options for safe, dignified reintegration with family or alternative care after the annulment of child marriage.

Promotion:

• Ensure adolescent-friendly SRHR services at all health service providers.

•. Introduce compulsory Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in secondary education in all schools.

• Keep and maintain disaggregated data on child marriage, its changing trends, including self-initiative child marriage for policy intervention.