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Nepal is a conservative and religious country.

In a first for Nepal, a Nepalese man who wears women’s clothes and behaves as a female has been given a citizenship certificate which gives special recognition to the gender. The unprecedented legal status was given to 40-year-old Chanda Musalman.

Nepal is a landlocked Himalayan country in South Asia, bordered by China (Tibet) to the north and by India to the south, east and west. The country’s culture is influenced by the cultures of Tibet, and India, which borders to the south. The country and the people generally are very conservative and religious. It was a very unusual incident happened in this country.

Even though Chanda was given citizenship papers recognizing him as both male and female from authorities, there are many technical matters need to sort out. It is unclear how this unique legal status will play out in practice – for instance, how it will affect Chanda’s marriage rights. Furthermore, Chanda has had no sex-change surgery.

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Chanda