9.3 Fundamental Rights and Duties in the Constitution of Nepal

The architecture: Part 3, Articles 16–48. The tour by block (learn the anchors): 1. The dignity-freedom-equality core: Right to live with dignity (Article 16): every person's dignity; the capital-punishment bar (16(2)) — no law shall be made for capital punishment; Right to freedom (Article 17): personal liberty (17(1)) and the six freedoms (17(2)) — opinion and expression; peaceful assembly without arms; forming political parties; unions and associations; movement and residence; occupation, employment, industry, trade — each under reasonable-restriction provisos (17(3)–(8): nationality and sovereignty, communal harmony, contempt, defamation, public morality); Right to equality (Article 18): equality before law and equal protection (18(1)); non- discrimination in law's application (18(2) — the grounds: origin, religion, race, caste, tribe, sex, physical condition, disability, health, matrimonial status, pregnancy, economic condition, language, region, ideology); state non-discrimination (18(3)) with the affirmative-action proviso (special provisions for women, Dalits, Adivasi Janajati, Madhesi, Tharu, Muslims, minorities, marginalized groups, sexual minorities, disabled, backward regions, and the economically deprived including Khas Arya); equal remuneration for same work (18(4)); equal parental-property rights (18(5)). 2. The justice-and-liberty machinery: Right to communication (Article 19): no prior censorship; no closure, seizure or registration-cancellation of media; no obstruction except by law; Right to justice (Article 20) — the criminal-process decalogue: grounds of arrest informed (20(1)); counsel of choice from arrest, consultations confidential (20(2)); production before a judicial…