The government is preparing to amend the country’s criminal laws to reduce punishment in cases involving consensual physical relationships between teenagers of similar ages, following growing concerns that existing laws are criminalising adolescent relationships and sending young people to prison for years.

The proposal emerged after an eight-member study task force formed by the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs recommended introducing a ‘Romeo and Juliet’ provision—which exempts consensual relationships between teenagers close in age from rape charges—into the National Criminal Code. The committee was led by Law Secretary Parashwar Dhungana and the representatives from the Supreme Court, Office of the Attorney General, Nepal Police, Nepal Bar Association and independent legal experts.

Law Minister Sobita Gautam had formed the task force soon after assuming office on April 26, making it her first ministerial decision. The committee was assigned to study legal obstacles in rape and sexual violence cases and suggest reforms to ensure quicker justice for victims while preventing misuse of the law in consensual cases involving adolescents.

The proposed reform would not create a separate law. Instead, officials say, a new provision would be included into the criminal code to distinguish between sexual exploitation and consensual relationships between teenagers with a small age gap.

“Our recommendation is based on age proximity, protection from unnecessary criminalisation and recognition of human development. If there is a small age difference and the relationship is consensual, such cases should not automatically be treated as rape,” said Law Secretary Dhungana.

According to the report prepared by the taskforce, the proposed provision would apply only when both individuals are adolescents and the age gap does not exceed three years. Parashwar said general rape laws would continue to apply if coercion, exploitation or a significant age difference were involved. “At present, many young people are in prison even when both individuals were in a consensual relationship,” he said. “We have seen cases where teenagers marry willingly, but the boy is later jailed under rape and child marriage charges after complaints from family members.”

Nepal’s current laws are among the strictest in South Asia regarding child marriage and statutory rape. The National Criminal Code sets the legal marriage age at 20 for both men and women. Any sexual relationship involving a person under 18 is treated as rape, regardless of consent.

The task force report cites international practices and recommendations from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, which has encouraged states not to criminalise consensual and non-exploitative sexual activity between adolescents of similar ages. The report argues that Nepal’s laws should recognise adolescents’ evolving maturity while still protecting minors from abuse.

The idea of introducing a ‘Romeo and Juliet’ provision has been debated in Nepal for several years. Earlier reports said the government was considering either lowering the legal marriage age to 18 or adopting a legal model that would exempt consensual relationships between teenagers close in age from statutory rape charges.

The proposed reform has gained urgency because of several controversial court cases. Law Secretary Dhungana referred to one case from Saptari that reached the Supreme Court after a teenage couple eloped and married against their families’ wishes.

In November 2022, the Supreme Court delivered a verdict in a rape and abduction case involving a then 17-year-old boy from Saptari. The case had moved from the district court to the high court before reaching the Supreme Court. The boy had been in a relationship with a 15-year-old neighbour, and the two had engaged in a consensual physical relationship. After their families found out, they eloped and got married.

The girl’s family later filed a police complaint accusing the boy of abduction and rape. Police arrested him and filed the case at the district court, which acquitted him of the charges. Despite the case, the boy and the girl continued to live together and later had a child.

However, the case was appealed at the High Court in Biratnagar, which sentenced the boy to seven years in prison and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000. The court also added two more years to the sentence because the girl was a minor. The boy then challenged the verdict at the Supreme Court. The apex court cleared him of rape and abduction charges but sentenced him to six months in prison for child marriage.

Law Secretary Dhungana said the government began preparing a “Romeo and Juliet law” after seeing a rise in such cases in recent years. According to him, similar cases have emerged in Pokhara and other districts, where teenage boys were jailed despite claims that the relationships were consensual. “The intention is not to weaken rape laws. The intention is to separate exploitation from natural adolescent relationships,” he said.

Senior advocate Meera Dhungana, a member of the task force, said the committee felt reform was necessary after studying the social impact of existing laws. “There are cases where families use rape charges after disapproving of relationships or inter-caste marriages. We realised the law was sometimes producing injustice instead of protection,” she said.

The idea of introducing such a law was also discussed during the previous parliamentary session. In March 2025, then home minister Ramesh Lekhak told a meeting of Parliament’s Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee that discussions were underway on a proposed ‘Romeo and Juliet’ provision.

Former Nepal Bar Association chairman and criminal law expert Gopal Krishna Ghimire said laws should evolve with time and be revised in line with changing social realities. He said introducing a ‘Romeo and Juliet law’ provision could be a positive step, but cautioned that safeguards would be needed to ensure offenders do not misuse the law to escape punishment.

Former National Human Rights Commission member Mohna Ansari also urged caution. She said lawmakers must study the broader social and economic risks faced by girls before introducing such a law.

“This cannot be based only on one Supreme Court verdict or a few individual cases. There must be broad discussion, evidence-based analysis and understanding of the social realities. Otherwise, there is a risk of misuse,” said Ansari.

The task force has also recommended reforms to laws related to human trafficking, workplace sexual harassment, child protection and criminal procedures. Officials at the Ministry of Law say discussions have already started on preparing amendment bills, which could be introduced in parliament or through an ordinance.

For many families affected by such cases, the proposed reform has reopened debate about whether Nepal’s existing laws strike the right balance between protecting minors and recognising adolescent relationships. The government now faces the challenge of ensuring that any new legal provision protects teenagers from abuse without turning consensual relationships into life-altering criminal cases.

The term ‘Romeo and Juliet law’ comes from William Shakespeare’s tragedy about two teenagers whose relationship was opposed by their families. The concept was first adopted in the US state of Florida in 2007 and later introduced in different forms in several countries and states to prevent teenagers from being labelled sex offenders for consensual relationships with peers close to their own age. Nepal’s task force has proposed a similar approach, arguing that adolescent attraction should not automatically be treated as a criminal offence.

Rights groups say the debate has become more urgent because many teenagers, particularly from rural areas and marginalised communities, continue to marry or enter relationships before reaching the legal marriage age.