Two Cases that are most discussed in Feminist and Non Feminist Circle till Today

To be very specific, the Nepalese Judiciary, aftermath of promulgation of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 2047(1990), has played vital role to protect and promote social justice in relation to women. Gender equality and gender justice are the pillars on which the Supreme Court has pronounced various land mark decisions. Few decisions delivered through the Supreme Court, specially in the writ petitions and Public Interest Litigations are really progressive and their close nexus with feminist jurisprudence can be easily traced out. It is likely to be more gender friendly judgment to be rendered from the courts in the days to come as the whole set up is advancing towards 'a new horizon of freedom.'
Nepal has good enough case laws relating to gender justice and justice with feminist components. For the purpose of the paper, the cases related to property and privacy which are really progressive, in other word, radical, are discussed as follows:

a) Mira Dhungana v. HMG Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and others
A leading case where a daughter is denied the right to inherit paternal property (a daughter has to be unmarried and must attain 35 years to inherit paternal property whereas a son is eligible to inherit paternal property right after his birth) under existing laws, was challenged in the Supreme Court in Meera v. Ministry of Law and Justice. The Court declared that the existing provision to inherit paternal property is conditional and a directive was issued to the government to introduce a Bill in the legislature within a year, reviewing laws related to property rights. At the same time, the Court also asked the government to take into consideration the patriarchal nature of the society, social structure, and fear of positive discrimination against men.
The hasty criticism of this judgment voiced that it discriminated men against women as women retains or are likely to retain double capacity to acquire partition from father and husband. Similarly, some opined it as a next to a dowry system. The best part of this judgment is that it has recognized equal property right between two sexes and positively, an equal property right is a milestone towards gender equality. Nevertheless, the decision is criticized by both feminists and anti-feminists.

b) Annapurna Rana v. Kathmandu District Court and others
In Annapurna Rana v. Kathmandu District Court and Others, petitioner challenged a court order compelling her to undergo a “virginity test.” The Supreme Court invalidated the order as a violation of petitioner’s constitutional right to privacy, recognizing the right to privacy over one’s own body and reproductive organs as an “inviolable” right under the constitution.
This judgment has cropped up some fundamental legal issues and they are:
i) The Privacy Discourse
ii) Marriage, family system and the law
iii) Control over sexuality
iv) Effect on rule of evidence
v) Social empowerment of women
Interestingly, the judgment has been severely criticized by both feminists and non feminists, specially in the respect of marital status and matrimonial relationship. More surprisingly, the court has recognized cohabitation and unleashed control over sexuality as the decision itself stated that mere sexual relationship does not create any change on the legal status of a woman or girl and even, a boy friend and girl friend may enjoy biological fulfilment and even procure children, which ipso facto does not establish matrimonial relationship between them. The main pitfall of this decision is that it is ambiguous. It is still a debate that such type of decision actually provides a fertile ground for feminism and feminist jurisprudence or just encourages male sexual outrage, sexual abuse, violence and exploitation against women.

References
1. Meera Dhungana's Case- NKP 6, D.N. 6013, at 462, (2052)
2. Annapurana Rana's Case- Writ No. 2187 of 2053, decided on 2055/2/25 by Division Bench of the Supreme Court of Nepal.
3. Surendra Bhandari, Court-Constitution & Global Public Policy (A Study on Nepalese Perspective),Democracy Development &Law, Anamnagar, Kathmandu, (First edn.), 1999.