Kathmandu, March 24 -- After a long preparation, the government is working to revise existing laws either to lower the minimum age for marriage or lessen the penalty for child marriage.

Concluding that the current age limit has only increased rape cases, the government is preparing to revise Child Act and the Criminal Code. The preparation to revise the legal provisions had started in 2022 when Govinda Koirala Bandi was the law minister arguing that there was no point in having 20 years as the minimum age of marriage while one gets citizenship at 16 and can cast a vote at 18.

Several lawmakers had sought to lower the age limit to 18. However, that couldn't materialise. Three years later, the government is in the final stages of register...