Noncooperation for family members to get citizenship card punishable

Noncooperation for a family member to acquire a citizenship certificate is subjected to punishment, according to the Nepal Citizenship (First Amendment) Act, 2079 BS.

This is punishable by three months in prison, and Rs 10,000 in fines. In this case, the respective district office can direct the persons to cooperate the family members get a citizenship card. In violation of this direction is subjected to the punishment. This is expected to help people acquire a citizenship certificate.

The Act has provisioned the grant of a Nepali citizenship certificate to non-resident Nepali people along with their access to social, cultural and economic rights.

Member of the House of Representatives Raj Kumar Sharma said with the implementation of the Act, around 3.5 million people would get a Nepali citizenship certificate. He was participating in a discussion orgaanised here today by the Forum for Women, Law and Development. The theme of the discussion was ‘role of media in the implementation of the Nepal Citizenship (First Amendment) Act, 2079 BS’.

Similarly, the Forum executive director Sabin Shrestha said the Act has still discriminated against women who have married a foreign national through a provision that does not allow the grant of a Nepali citizenship card to their husbands.

Other speakers, Sushma Gautam, Binod Devkota and Binu Lama stressed the need for reviewing the provision that makes it mandatory for those in ‘other’ category to get recommendations from the medical committee to get a Nepali citizenship certificate.