Kathmandu, July 8 -- In Saptari, a girl aged 15 and a boy of 17 fell in love and eloped after their families opposed their relationship. The girl's family filed a case against the boy for rape and abduction. However, by the time the case reached Nepal's Supreme Court in 2022, the couple had married and had a child. The court cleared the boy of rape and abduction but still sentenced him to six months for child marriage. Even then the couple stayed together and the criminal record stayed intact as well.

Such cases are common, says Noor Mohammed, a lawyer based in Kapilvastu. ''Just on Wednesday, July 1, I had been in court for two such cases,'' he said.

In both, teenage couples had eloped willingly, yet the girls' families filed rape comp...