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Civil Rights Act, 2012 (1955)
Date of Authentication Date of publication in Gaz ette
2012.7.18 (1955 Nov.4) 2012.8.13 (1955 Dec.3)

Amendments
1. Fore igners Ac t, 2015 2015. 1.16 2015. 2.20
2.
Some Nepal Acts (Ame ndment a nd
re-orga niza tion) Act, 2020 2020. 11.16 2020. 11.16
3.
Civil Rights (First Amendme nt)
Act, 2035 2035.7.8
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Admi nis tration of J ustice Act, 2048
2048.2.16 2048.2.16
Act no. 12 of 2012
An Act to provi de for Civil Rights to the People

Preamble
: Whereas, it is e xpe die nt to pro vide for Civil Rig hts to the people a nd
procedure there for to enforce those Rights,
Be it enac ted a nd proc la ime d by His Majesty the Ki ng.
1. Short Title, Extent and Commencement
: (1) This Ac t may be called the “Civil
Rights Ac t, 2012 (1955)”. (2) This Act shall come into force a ll o ver Nepa l.
(3) This Act shall come into force immediate ly.
§
§§
§2.
Definitions : The term “Citizen”, in this Act, means the citize n of Nepa l pursua nt
to the pre va ilin g c onstitution and c itizenship Act, 2020.
§ 3. Equ ality in the e ye of law : No citize n sha ll be denied equa lity be fore the la w a nd
equa l protection of law subject to the provisions o f pre va iling laws.
§ 4. No disc rimination on the ground of Religion, Caste, Tribe or Gende r : In the
course of providing appointments, the Go vernme nt of Nepa l sha ll appoint only in
the ground of merit a nd no c itize n sha ll be discrim inate d on the ground of re ligion,
§ Amended by Some Nepal Acts ( Amendment and r e-organization) Act, 2020

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colour, gender, caste, tribe or any of them in the a ppointment of go vernment or
any other Public Ser vice.
5. Power of Gove rnment of Ne pal to provide for special provisions to the
Specific Class : Notw ithstanding a nything in Section 3 a nd 4 a bo ve,-
(a) The Go vernment of Nepal sha ll ha ve power to pro vide for spec ial
pro visions to the fema le, children a nd underprivile ged class of
c itizens.
(b) Rel i gion, Trust a nd Sadabarta (pe rpet uat e d cha rit y) , sha ll c onti nue
pursua nt t o t he Ac t, Rule or t he Cust om s; no one sh al l int erve ne on it .
6. Rights to free dom of speech etc. : §
§§
§Subjec t to the provision of the pre vailing
laws , a ll c itizens sha ll ha ve the following rights:-
(1) Free dom of expression a nd publication.
(2) To assemble peaceably a nd without arms and immu nations .
(3) To run organizations and assoc iations.
(4) To move a ll o ver Nepal without any obstac le.
(5) To reside and ma inta in house hold in any part of Nepal.
(6) To acquire, posse ss a nd sell property.
(7) To choose any profession, employment, industry or trade.
7. Right to Religion
: § Subjec t to the provisions of the pre vailing Nepal L aws, the
following rights of a ny re ligious de nom ina tion shall not be interve ned:-
(a) To organize and operate religious and Trust (Guthi), Sadabarta
(Perpetuate d Charity), organizations.
(b) To ma nage, in their own way, the re ligious and socia l intercourse
activitie s.
(c) To acquire, own and dispose of property
§ Amended by Some Nepal Acts ( Amendment and r e-orga nization) Act, 2020

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8. No Taxation without Legal Authority : No Tax sha ll be le vied a nd collec ted
without the authority of law.
9. Right to property
: No one shall be de prived of his/her property with out the
authority of the
§law in force.
10. Secu rity of the Residence of the citizen
: N o one sha ll force fully e nter into the
residence of the c itizen w ithout the authority of t he
§
§§
§law in force.
11. Punishment in the case of conviction
: § (1) No one shall be punished for an act
which was not punishable by law when the ac t was c o mmitted and no person shall
be subjecte d to a punishment grea ter than tha t the law in force a t the time of
offence.
(2) No person sha ll be prosec uted or punished for t he same offe nce more
tha n once. (3) No person, accused of any offence, shall be com pe lled to be a w itne ss
a ga inst him/herse lf.
§ 12. Personal Free dom : Except otherwise provide d in the pre va iling laws, no one
sha ll be deprived of his/her life or persona l liber ty.
§ 13. Restriction from force labour : Exce pt otherwise provide d in the pre va iling laws,
no one sha ll compel or cause to compe l for the forc ed labour.
1 4. Proh ib it io n in em pl o yin g ch il d ren in th e f act or y et c : No chi ld, bel ow t he a ge of
fourtee n ye ars, sha ll be em pl oye d in t he fact ory or mine s or any ot he r haza rdous work.
15. Save from the arre st : (1) Exce pt otherw ise pro vide d by the pre vailing l aws, the
person who is be ing arre ste d,- (a) Sha ll not be put in c ustody without providing a rea soned Notice of
arrest a s soon a s possible.
(b) Sha ll not be de prive d of from the right to cons ult a nd defe nd by the
lega l practitioner or an attorney pursuant to the l aw.
§ Amended by Some Nepal Acts ( Amendment and r e-organization) Act, 2020

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(2) Exce pt othe rw ise provide d in the pre va ilin g law s, the person arrested or
take n into c ustody shall be produced before the jud icia l a uthority within 24 hours
exc luding the time taken for the journey and no per son sha ll be deta ined in exce ss
of that period without the order (permission) of su ch Authority.
(3) Notwithsta nding anything c onta ined in Sub-secti on (1) or (2), a c itizen
of an e nem y state a nd a person arre ste d or detained under the law re la ting to
pre ventive dete ntion, sha ll not ha ve any right ment ione d in those Sub-sec tions.
¨
¨¨
¨16.
Measu res against illegal detention : ©(1) The person who is arrested or de tained
may file a pe tition on his/her own or on be half of any other person, for habe as
corpus, be fore the Court of Appea l.
(2) The c oncerne d c ourt sha ll conduct a direc t (Thado) inquiry in the
petition ma de pursua nt to Sub-sec tion (1) and ma y i ssue an order to re lea se the
person so arreste d or de tained in ca se such arrest or dete ntion is found
una uthorized pursuant to the pre va iling laws.
¨ 17. Other measu res to claim the rights guarantee d by th e Act : © (1) In case, there
is a reasona ble doubt of infringin g a ny of the righ ts, guaranteed by this Ac t, the
person c oncerned ma y file a petition be fore the Cou rt of Appea l.
(2) Upon conducting an inquiry in the a pplica tion f ie ld pursua nt to Sub-
section (1), the court ma y issue an order of injunc tion to prohibit the act.
(3) If a person infringes any of the right of any o ther person guara nte ed by
this Act, the person who so infringes, sha ll pa y th e com pensation to the a ggrie ved
party as dec ide d by the court.
18. Power to file a case against the Gove rnment of Nepa l
: If the te nder or lease
doc ument do not provide for any dispute resolution mechanism by an authority
and there arises a ny dispute re garding any right re lated to the tender with the
governme nt and if the Government of Nepa l de prives of or ca uses a ny damage to
¨ Amended by Firs t Amend ment.
© Amended by Adminis tration of Jus tice Act, 2048.

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any movea ble or imm ova ble property of a c itizen in aga inst of Section 8 or 9, the
concerned citize n may file a case be fore the
©Court of Appea l for the
compe nsa tion or reco very of that property. Provide d that, the Go vernme nt of Nepa l shall not pa y any c ompe nsation for
any act of torts made by the governme nt employee.
19. Notice of the Case
: (1) If a person has to file a ca se a ga inst the Go ve rnment of
Nepal or the gove rnment employee for the act done i n his/her offic ia l ca pac ity, the
concerned person sha ll ha ve to serve or make a regi stered post of a Notice to the
employee or the concerne d office two months earlier , a s follow ing:-
(a) To the
§
§§
§Secretary of the Go vernme nt of Nepal, if the case has to be
file d aga inst the Gove rnment of Nepal.
(b) To the concerned go vernme nt employee if the cas e has to be filed
a ga inst any go vernment employee,
(2) Suc h Notice shall also conta in the Name, Surna m e and Addre ss of the
person, reasons for filing the case and c la ims ma de by the person.
¨
¨¨
¨20.
Limitations to file the case : A person sha ll file a ca se with in Eight months f rom
the date of cause of action in a case which is me nt ioned in Sec tion 17 and 18.
21.
………..
© Amended by Adminis tration of Jus tice Act, 2048.
§ Amended by Some Nepal Acts ( Amendment and r e-orga nization) Act, 2020
¨ Amended by Firs t Amend ment.
Deleted by Forei gners Act, 2015
Note:

1. The followi ng word has been changed by Interi m Gover nment of Nepal Act –
”His Majesty’s Gover nment” ins tead of ”Gover nm ent”
2. The followi ng word has been changed by Nepal l aw (A mendment ) Act,2024
(a) “Punar abedan” i nsteat of “Appeal ”
(b) ” karyal aya” i ns teat of “office”

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22. Repeal : Personal Liberty Ac t, 2006 is, hereby, repea led.