Violence on women
Signs you have a ‘bad’ boss
It wasn't long ago when Nepalis read and watched rape-related news from India and sympathized with victims. Rape was not a big problem in Nepal. But that safe bubble has burst. Puja Shah, a seven-year old from Kailali, raped on February 21, has since died. Her case has caught the country's attention. However, as the country demands justice for Puja, it has come to light that another six-year-old was raped in Tehrathum on March 2. The case was kept hush-hush until now because people were trying to settle it locally. It eventually became public after 11 days when the six-year old girl's health began to deteriorate.
Violence against women has gone from bad to worse. In the past, Nepali women were ill-treated by their husbands and in-laws. They suffered for not bringing enough in dowry. Girls were not sent to schools, and women lacked opportunities beyond the confines of their homes. As years passed, we believed we were making progress by educating our girls and increasing female labor force participation. A recent study named Nepal as the country with the highest female labor force participation in the world, with 80 percent of working age Nepali women being employed.
What do these numbers look like for Nepal? We don't know. We will never know if we do not improve how we deal with victims. In the past few days, the acid attack victims have told the media that they have been harassed by Nepali police. They accuse police of putting more effort in questioning victims than finding perpetrator. Similar reasons cause rape and other sexual assaults to go unreported in Nepal. Victims fear coming forward. They are afraid of going public because they will be asked to relive their experiences again and again. Their families aren't helpful either. Victim families are more worried about losing honor (izzat) than getting justice for their wives and daughters. Instead, victim families and local society often collude to monetary compensation. The case of the six-year old from Tehrathum is an example.
Incidences of sexual assaults on Nepali women increased during (and after) the conflict. Research shows that Nepali Army and Maoists used 'rape' as a weapon. Human Rights Watch, an international human rights organization, reports that Nepali Army raped female relatives of suspected Maoists. On the other hand, the Maoists raped women who refused to join the insurgency or support it. Life after assaults has not been any better for those victims. Many of the stigmatized victims have suffered further domestic violence. These findings suggest that ours is no longer a country for women, especially not for victims of sexual assaults.
In addition to a change in mindset of how we view victims, we also need better legislations and policies. Victims of sexual violence often take time to come forward. However, the 35-day statute of limitations prevents them from filing reports. How many perpetrators of sexual violence roam our streets because they were never charged due to limitations imposed by the statute of limitations? Does that mean rape victims of insurgency cannot pursue their attackers?
Poor policies and legislation have meant that the mob often takes justice into its hands. For example, earlier this month, a rape accused was dragged out from his jail cell in Nagaland by a mob, and killed. Newer details about that case reveal that the man was probably innocent because it could have been a fake allegation. A week ago, a drunk in Agra exposed himself indecently to a girl from neighborhood. The mob learnt of it, and hanged the man in public. Many among us believe that mob justice is a swift solution to rape and acid attack. However, mob justice is fraught with danger and is not 'just'.
In Nepal too, a sizable crowd is demanding the acid attacker to be hanged. If that's going to be the standard for criminal punishment, I think the mob will want death penalty for rapists too. Even victims of acid attacks have been demanding their attacker be hanged. I feel that everyone needs to take a step back and tone down their rhetoric. The country agrees that current provisions of punishment for sexual assaults are weak. They do not fit the crimes. However, the Nepali State has not executed anyone since 1979, and the Constitution of 1990 abolished the death penalty, for a good reason. Death penalty robs people out of opportunity to prove themselves innocent if fresh evidence presents itself in the future.
We decided in 1990 that executing people was not a just punishment, no matter what the nature and extent of crime. We settled on that 'value' as a society. To bring back the death penalty would be to give up on those values. If we don't stick to our values when they are challenged, then they're not really our values. They're hobbies.
The author is a development professional mukhanal@gmail.com
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