Nepal has been very progressive in terms of LGBTQI+ rights. In 2007 itself, the Supreme Court had ordered the government to end discrimination against homosexuals and guarantee them equal rights as a citizen. That historic decision was widely appreciated. Thus Nepal became the first South Asian country in 2007 to recognize a third gender. Last month, Nepal’s Supreme Court gave another historic verdict asking the government to recognize same-sex marriages. Rohatgi has referred to this judgment in his argument.
Last month, a bench of Nepal’s Supreme Court Justices Nepal Hari Prasad Fuyal and Tanka Bahadur Moktan ordered the government to recognize same-sex marriages in the Adheep Pokhrel case. The court ordered Nepal’s Ministry of Law and Justice to prepare a uniform marriage law or to amend existing laws in accordance with the principles of equal marriage.
The case pertains to a gay couple Adheep Pokhrel (Nepali national) and Tobias Volz (German national). The Immigration Department of the Government of Nepal denied Volz a non-tourist visa on the grounds that same-sex marriage is not recognized in the country. The couple reached the Supreme Court against this. This gay couple got married according to German law on 19 October 2018 and got their marriage registered in Germany. But when they came to Nepal, Volz’s non-tourist visa was rejected on the grounds that same sex marriage is not legal there. Finally, on March 20, the Nepali Supreme Court, in its historic decision, recognized the same-sex marriage of a gay couple. Not only this, the Law Ministry there was ordered to enact a new law or to amend the existing laws to recognize same-sex marriage. The Supreme Court of Nepal had given a similar order six years ago in the Suman Panta case, but even now the government there has not recognized same-sex marriage.