Moral policing is the most favored tool of repressive regimes to deny democratic rights to their citizens. Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan have become bastions of oppression of women. In these deeply patriarchal societies, it is predominantly women who are victimized for ‘moral crimes’, even if the crimes have been committed by the family patriarchs. But moral policing is by no means confined to autocratic countries. It is rampant even in a flourishing democracy like India, and no less in Nepal. Recently, a married woman and a man were banished from Ayodhyapur VDC in Siraha by local panchayat for allegedly having illicit relations.
According to local right activists, the villagers had shorn off their hair, smeared soot on their faces and garlanded them with shoes before parading them before the village. Bad as this reflects on our society, what was even more shocking was that the police present at the panchayat meeting chose to look on from the sidelines while the alleged ‘sinners’ were paraded before the village. The story doesn’t end there. When the victimized woman sought help from the police, she was advised to go elsewhere and start a new life as no one could go against the decision of the panchayat, which has no legal status.
Never mind that the victimized woman vehemently refuted the villagers’ charge, no less because the man in question was her brother-in-law. Never mind that her husband does not doubt his wife’s fidelity, but dares not speak for the fear of reprisal. Earlier this year, two women were brutally beaten up in Kathmandu and an irate mob burnt a 40-year-old woman alive at a village in Chitwan. In both the cases the victims were accused of practicing witchcraft. According to WOREC, a human rights organization, in the month of Bhadra (August-September), 16 women fell victims to various forms of violence; with 10 of them paying with their lives. These heartbreaking events suggest an alarming level of lawlessness and gender violence in Nepali society.
Another thing these incidents make clear is that the level of awareness on these crucial issues among Nepalis, even those inhabiting urban centers, is dismally low. Unless a clear message filters through to all sections of Nepali society that acts of cruelty, irrespective of their form, are incompatible with a democratic society, things are unlikely to improve. But what should also come through in these awareness campaigns is that anyone who takes the law into their own hands will be liable to strong punishment.
But what seems to be happening instead is that people either no longer fear the writ of the state or they believe the existing security apparatus is incapable of ensuring their security. We are afraid these incidents will continue until the time the country achieves a degree of political stability and until there is a plenipotentiary authority to ensure effective implementation of the anti-discriminatory legal instruments. But that should not stop the current government from taking strong action against those involved in the dastardly act in Siraha. The message should be that, transition or not, no one who threatens the country’s social fabric will be spared.
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