ABSTRACT
This chapter presents findings from fieldwork research on secularism conducted in Nepal between September 2009 and April 2010, made possible by the generous support of the Post-doctoral Newton Fellowship of the British Academy. It presents a court case that challenged the Kumari tradition in the name of child rights. The chapter briefly reviews the petition, the arguments of the parties and the court's verdict. It discusses the case and fieldwork data point to a distinctive form of secularism in the making, which is understood as religious freedom and religious equality of both individuals and groups. The chapter suggests that the normative reflections of Bhargava on an Indian form of secularism and his notion of principled distance' could be relevant as conceptual framework to describe secularism. Bhargava argues that Indian secularism has to differ from the classical liberal model, which dictates strict separation between religious and political institutions, and recognizes individuals and beliefs but not groups and practices.
