Civil Rights Act,2012-final
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Civil Rights Act, 2012 (1955)
Date of Authentication Date of publication in Gazette 2012.7.18 (1955 Nov.4) 2012.8.13 (1955 Dec.3) Amendments 1. Foreigners Act, 2015 2015.1.16 2015.2.20 2. Some Nepal Acts (Amendment and
re-organization) Act, 2020 2020.11.16 2020.11.16 3. Civil Rights (First Amendment)
Act, 2035 2035.7.8 4 Administration of Justice Act, 2048
2048.2.16 2048.2.16 Act no. 12 of 2012
An Act to provide for Civil Rights to the People
Preamble: Whereas, it is expedient to provide for Civil Rights to the people and
procedure therefor to enforce those Rights,
Be it enacted and proclaimed by His Majesty the King.
1. Short Title, Extent and Commencement: (1) This Act may be called the "Civil
Rights Act, 2012 (1955)".
(2) This Act shall come into force all over Nepal.
(3) This Act shall come into force immediately. ♣2. Definitions: The term "Citizen", in this Act, means the citizen of Nepal pursuant
to the prevailing constitution and citizenship Act, 2020. ♣
3. Equality in the eye of law: No citizen shall be denied equality before the law and
equal protection of law subject to the provisions of prevailing laws. ♣
4. No discrimination on the ground of Religion, Caste, Tribe or Gender: In the
course of providing appointments, the Government of Nepal shall appoint only in
the ground of merit and no citizen shall be discriminated on the ground of religion,
♣ Amended by Some Nepal Acts (Amendment and re-organization) Act, 2020

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colour, gender, caste, tribe or any of them in the appointment of government or
any other Public Service.
5. Power of Government of Nepal to provide for special provisions to the
Specific Class: Notwithstanding anything in Section 3 and 4 above,-
(a) The Government of Nepal shall have power to provide for special
provisions to the female, children and underprivileged class of
citizens.
(b) Religion, Trust and Sadabarta (perpetuated charity), shall continue
pursuant to the Act, Rule or the Customs; no one shall intervene on it.
6. Rights to freedom of speech etc.: ♣Subject to the provision of the prevailing
laws, all citizens shall have the following rights:-
(1) Freedom of expression and publication.
(2) To assemble peaceably and without arms and immunations .
(3) To run organizations and associations.
(4) To move all over Nepal without any obstacle.
(5) To reside and maintain household in any part of Nepal.
(6) To acquire, possess and sell property.
(7) To choose any profession, employment, industry or trade.
7. Right to Religion: ♣ Subject to the provisions of the prevailing Nepal Lws, the
following rights of any religious denomination shall not be intervened:-
(a) To organize and operate religious and Trust (Guthi), Sadabarta
(Perpetuated Charity), organizations.
(b) To manage, in their own way, the religious and social intercourse
activities.
(c) To acquire, own and dispose of property
♣ Amended by Some Nepal Acts (Amendment and re-organization) Act, 2020

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8. No Taxation without Legal Authority: No Tax shall be levied and collected
without the authority of law.
9. Right to property: No one shall be deprived of his/her property without the
authority of the ♣law in force.
10. Security of the Residence of the citizen: No one shall forcefully enter into the
residence of the citizen without the authority of the♣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 act was committed and no person shall
be subjected to a punishment greater than that the law in force at the time of
offence.
(2) No person shall be prosecuted or punished for the same offence more
than once.
(3) No person, accused of any offence, shall be compelled to be a witness
against him/herself. ♣
12. Personal Freedom: Except otherwise provided in the prevailing laws, no one
shall be deprived of his/her life or personal liberty. ♣
13. Restriction from force labour: Except otherwise provided in the prevailing laws,
no one shall compel or cause to compel for the forced labour.
14. Prohibition in employing children in the factory etc: No child, below the age of
fourteen years, shall be employed in the factory or mines or any other hazardous work.
15. Save from the arrest: (1) Except otherwise provided by the prevailing laws, the
person who is being arrested,-
(a) Shall not be put in custody without providing a re soned Notice of
arrest as soon as possible.
(b) Shall not be deprived of from the right to consult and defend by the
legal practitioner or an attorney pursuant to the law.
♣ Amended by Some Nepal Acts (Amendment and re-organization) Act, 2020

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(2) Except otherwise provided in the prevailing laws, the person arrested or
taken into custody shall be produced before the judicial authority within 24 hours
excluding the time taken for the journey and no person shall be detained in excess
of that period without the order (permission) of such Authority.
(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in Sub-section (1) or (2), a citizen
of an enemy state and a person arrested or detained u der the law relating to
preventive detention, shall not have any right mentioned in those Sub-sections. ♦16. Measures against illegal detention: ♥(1) The person who is arrested or detained
may file a petition on his/her own or on behalf of any other person, for habeas
corpus, before the Court of Appeal.
(2) The concerned court shall conduct a direct (Thado) inquiry in the
petition made pursuant to Sub-section (1) and may issue an order to release the
person so arrested or detained in case such arrest o detention is found
unauthorized pursuant to the prevailing laws. ♦
17. Other measures to claim the rights guaranteed by the Act: ♥ (1) In case, there
is a reasonable doubt of infringing any of the rights, guaranteed by this Act, the
person concerned may file a petition before the Court f Appeal.
(2) Upon conducting an inquiry in the application field pursuant to Sub-
section (1), the court may issue an order of injunctio to prohibit the act.
(3) If a person infringes any of the right of any other person guaranteed by
this Act, the person who so infringes, shall pay the compensation to the aggrieved
party as decided by the court.
18. Power to file a case against the Government of Nepal: If the tender or lease
document do not provide for any dispute resolution mechanism by an authority
and there arises any dispute regarding any right rela ed to the tender with the
government and if the Government of Nepal deprives of or causes any damage to
♦ Amended by First Amendment.
♥ Amended by Administration of Justice Act, 2048.

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any moveable or immovable property of a citizen in against of Section 8 or 9, the
concerned citizen may file a case before the ♥Court of Appeal for the
compensation or recovery of that property.
Provided that, the Government of Nepal shall not pay any compensation for
any act of torts made by the government employee.
19. Notice of the Case: (1) If a person has to file a case against the Government of
Nepal or the government employee for the act done in his/her official capacity, the
concerned person shall have to serve or make a registered post of a Notice to the
employee or the concerned office two months earlier, as following:-
(a) To the ♣Secretary of the Government of Nepal, if the case has to be
filed against the Government of Nepal.
(b) To the concerned government employee if the cas has to be filed
against any government employee,
(2) Such Notice shall also contain the Name, Surname nd Address of the
person, reasons for filing the case and claims made by the person. ♦20. Limitations to file the case: A person shall file a case with in Eight months from
the date of cause of action in a case which is mentioned in Section 17 and 18.
21. ...........
♥ Amended by Administration of Justice Act, 2048. ♣ Amended by Some Nepal Acts (Amendment and re-organization) Act, 2020 ♦ Amended by First Amendment. Deleted by Foreigners Act, 2015
Note:
1. The following word has been changed by Interim Government of Nepal Act -
''His Majesty's Government'' instead of ''Governme t''
2. The following word has been changed by Nepal law (Amendment ) Act,2024
(a) "Punarabedan" insteat of "Appeal"
(b) "karyalaya" insteat of "office"




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22. Repeal: Personal Liberty Act, 2006 is, hereby, repealed.