In Nepal, 112 cases of rape were reported in the month of Shrawan (mid-July to mid-August), as per the report unveiled by the Women Rehabilitation Center (WOREC).
Two years and two months on, the justice for Nirmala Panta’s Rape Case is still hanging with frail hopes from our failed system. Although Nepal’s government formed multiple panels to investigate Nirmala’s murder, none have found any clues about the murderer.
The “Rape Culture” and the prevalence of sexual violence against women in Nepal are now being normalized in society, with no effective execution of the existing laws. Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa made a controversial remark on how Nepal should be least concerned about ongoing rape cases.
In a State Affairs Committee of Parliament meeting, he stated,
“Analyzing the situation in 200 countries, we should not be too worried. Six to seven women and girls are raped in the country every day. Efforts have been made by the government to reduce it and we are far behind. Looking back, we are in the top 15.”
Putting his thoughts on the globally controversial Nirmala Panta’s rape case, he further added, “We are constantly working to bring the perpetrators to justice. We believe that we will succeed in this endeavor.”
But the ongoing actions and approaches that have been taken to solve this matter speak otherwise. Just last month, as many as 112 cases of rape were reported as per the report published by WOREC (Women Rehabilitation Center).
The report unveiled that there was a 2.6 percent increase in the incidents of rape cases just in the month of Shrawan as compared to the four months’ lockdown (March 24-July 21) imposed as a prevention against the COVID-19 outbreak in Nepal. The report further showcased approximately three to four rape cases were reported on a daily basis, which leads us to question,” Are we Normalizing Rape Culture in Nepal?”
Let’s take a look at these recent abominable rape cases:
The Bajhang rape and murder case
On one unfortunate evening of September 23. 12-year-old Samjhana Kami of Bajhang District was raped and brutally murdered by Rajendra Bohora who recently pleaded guilty of his crime in front of the police. Describing the heinous incident, he told the police he dragged the minor (who went to feed the cows in the nearby shed). to a local temple, raped her, and murdered her, striking her head with a hammer and trident. At around 8:30 pm, they found the girl’s dead body inside a local temple. The lower part of her body had been stripped naked, her clothes were torn, and her earrings were missing.
The Saptari Rape Case
On September 14, four men brutally raped a 17-year-old girl in the early morning. The teenage rape victim took her own life that same night after the village’s Panchayats forced the girl and her family to not report the crime and settle the matter inside the community. The Deputy Superintendent of Police Tilak Bharati has caught three men, Jayakanta Mandal, Satya Narayan Mandal, and Basudev Mandal, who were in the Panchayat meeting, whereas the four culprits who committed the crime are still on the loose.
Bhaktapur Gang-Rape Case
Three men gang-raped a minor, 17-year-old girl inside a parked public bus in Bhaktapur on 2nd October. The police have arrested the culprits, Nir Kumar Khadka, 22, of Chautara Sangachowk Gadhi Municipality-10, and Surya Shrestha, 21, of Jugal Rural Municipality-4, Pantang in Sindhupalchowk, while the third culprit is still at large. Police unveiled how they mixed knock-out drugs in water and forced the teenager to drink that. They took her to Bhaktapur from Ratnapark in Kathmandu at night and gang-raped the girl at around 10 AM inside a bus at Suryabinayak the following day.
The boys again took her near the banks of Tabya Khushi River at Liwali, on the same day and raped her twice inside another bus which was parked alongside the river between 11 AM and 9 PM.
Quarantine rape Case
In June, a 31-year-old woman, a migrant worker returning home from Bengaluru was attacked and raped by three men, one health worker, and two volunteers inside the quarantine center in Lamkichuha, a village 430 km (230 miles) southwest of the capital Kathmandu.
Police reported that the men forced their way into her room, where she was staying under isolation and gang-raped her brutally.
Where Do We Stand?
The rising rape cases and the state’s inability to put harsher penalties for committing such heinous crimes stipulate how we are one way or another, letting the situation escalate without any control. It’s sad how our society and the government is allowing this environment in which rape is prevalent and sexual violence is normalized and excused without stern actions.
For decades, rape culture has been perpetuated through the use of misogynistic language, the objectification of women’s bodies, victim-blaming, sexual assault tolerances, gratuitous gender violence in movies, defining men as sexually dominant and aggressive, and teaching women HOW TO DRESS OR WHEN TO COME HOME in order to prevent rape from happening. This undoubtedly is leading to the formation of a society and a country that disregards women’s rights and safety.
Perpetrators know that they can get away with it because there’s no capital punishment for rape or murder under our constitution. Though we all are advocating justice for the survivors and victims of the assaults, lack of stricter penalties won’t minimize, let alone stop the crimes.
