Ajita Bhujel, 29, a transwoman, was raped and murdered in Hetauda on January 18, 2020. Four persons were arrested but the police couldn’t book them on charges of rape as the existing law recognises the rape only of a girl or a woman.

“The four were sentenced only under murder charges,” said Pinky Gurung, chairperson of the Blue Diamond Society which advocates the rights of the sexual minorities. “We ask the government to revise the rape provisions in the criminal code after broad consultations.”

On Sunday President Bidya Devi Bhandari authenticated an ordinance published in the Nepal Gazette, the draft of which according to news reports had a provision which replaced “woman or girl child” of Clause 221 of the Criminal Code 2017 with “person” implying that both women or men could be raped.

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