Sapana Pradhan Malla

Laureate Profile

Sapana Pradhan Malla, a practicing lawyer before the Supreme Court of Nepal, has been involved in almost all leading public interest litigation in that country, including equality in inheritance, legalization of abortion, criminalization of marital rape, equality in marriage and family law. She has succeeded in getting the Court to agree to maintain confidentiality in cases related to violence against women and cases involving HIV and AIDS, and to enforce confidentiality in all stages of the justice system. Vice president of the Legal Aid Consultancy Center and National Coordinator for the South Asian Women Law Association, she has brought several landmark cases to the Supreme Court of Nepal and been instrumental in the most recent legal reforms protecting the fundamental reproductive and property rights of women in Nepal.