Bangladeshi women no longer must identify their status as "virgin" on marriage registration document, the nation's high court ruled Sunday. File Photo by Monirul Alam/EPA-EFE

Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Bangladesh's high court has ruled the nation's marriage registration forms will replace the word "virgin" with "unmarried," when referring to women's status.

In ordering the change, the court declared the "virgin" status to be "humiliating" and "discriminatory."


The ruling is considered a major victory for women's rights groups in largely Muslim Bangladesh, which slammed the form's requiring women to declare their sexual status on a marriage document.

"It is a landmark verdict," said attorney Aynun Nahar Siddiqua.

The other two options on the form, "divorced" and "widowed," will be unchanged.

In a separate order, the court also ruled Bangladeshi grooms must also declare their marital status on the registration form. Both changes will take effect once the full court order is published in the coming weeks.

Women's rights groups have been fighting to change the marriage form since 2014.