The Supreme Court of Bangladesh has ruled that women will no longer have to declare whether they are virgins in marriage certificates after five years of legal battle by women's rights advocacy groups, which sought to protect privacy and potential humiliation of these.

Marriage laws in Bangladesh, a predominantly Muslim country , required the bride to say on her marriage certificate if she was "kumari" (virgin), widow or divorced. But on Sunday, the Supreme Court ordered the Government to withdraw the word "kumari" and replace it with "single", a gesture celebrated by women's defense groups.

According to the sentence, the boyfriend will also have to reveal whether he is single, divorced or widowed . At the moment the Government has not ruled on the ruling or when it will begin to apply.

Ainun Nahar Siddiqua, one of the two lawyers involved in the case, has explained that this goes back to an appeal filed in 2014 to change the form based on the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Law of the country, 1974.

"It is a sentence that makes us believe that we can fight and create more changes for women in the future," Siddiqua of Bangladesh Legal Aid And Services Trust (BLAST) told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "We present a written appeal because asking someone if they are virgin or not goes against the person's right to privacy, " he added.

Mohamad Ali Akbar Sarker, a Muslim marriage registry officer from Dhaka, has told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that officials like him are waiting for the Ministry of Law and Justice to officially inform them of changes in the form.

"I have done many marriages in Dhaka and I have often been asked why men are free not to disclose their status and women are not. I always told them it was not in my hand. I guess they will not ask me that question anymore," has added.

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