of 403rd session

                                   

The world just celebrated 104^th International women day on March 8, 2014 with a slogan “Equality for women is progress for all.” As we know, Nepal is the country where birth of a girl is akin to the arrival of Laxmi (Goddess of Wealth) and the question arise if women are like goddess of Laxmi Why are they still treated as object? What the reason behind this violence? In the world women are consider as creators of life but we can’t even imagine how pathetic is the situation of these creator?

Recently the data recorded in informal sector service center has proved the existence of 2,348 women rape victims and 7000 girl rape victims from 2009 to 2012 Rape cases have increased from 17% to 21%. According to human rights groups, three girls are raped every 48 hours in Nepal but incident that go unreported are even much higher. This is the cases here in our country and we still brag to civilized society, but question arises, Are We really?  A society which doesn’t’ respect women is not civilized at all. If we were truly civilized we wouldn’t see girls and women harasses and tortured in the name of even teasing every time after they leave their home.

A young girl in Mahotari district was raped by two people. The accused were caused but instead of punishing both of them, Locals padlocked the girl house and expelled her from the girls house and expelled from the village for having corrupted local youth. After seeking help from police And  political leaders the girl got a compensation of RS 40,000 and half of which was taken by the all mediating party leader as donation for their community development fund So this is the case here in our country, the cost of pain, trauma through which women suffer is compared in terms of money , Even this is not enough when rape victim goes to life the report the so called security  personnel of the country voice  respond it as normal case and if the report is filed they need to go through medical checkup where the girl saves now as doctors treat victims not as a patient but as if they are the animals., he incident itself is not enough the victim gets devastate traumatized even sig le second in each and every step to get justice. Isn’t it hard to believe how inhuman we had turned up, how emotionally bankrupt we had become theft we could omit such as heinous crime to our own daughter, our own sister and our own blood.

Another case, an 11-years-old girl was left 4 months old pregnant by a 40-years-old man in Jhapa. It was reported that the whereabouts of the culprit is still unknown. From a three year old girl raped somewhere at Nawalparasi to a 16 years old girl gang-raped at her own home at Kavre, the cases of rape are increasing tremendously, not mentioning unheard or settled cases. Recent analysis has shown that, in the eastern region of Nepal alone, 148 cases of rape have been reported. This is only a sample of how unsafe girls are becoming.

The one reason lies on the laws of our country. Security and police personnel do not work properly unless extreme pressure is created. Even if they scrutinize the case, culprits hardly get caught. And interestingly enough, even if they get caught they rarely serve “deserving punishments”. In one charge against rape the court had asked rapist to pay 15000 rupees as a fine, imprisoning him for 5 months. It is astounding. Can NRs 15000 ever pay back the victim’s virginity? No. It won’t. Instead, such futile punishment encourages depraved minds to commit such crimes even if they had never done before.

The other reason for females’ life being increasing vulnerable is the increasing domination of males. Females are not as-strong-as males genetically. Might be, taking the advantage of being hormonally strong, men take control over women creating what they call it patriarchal society. But in the name of taking a lead role at family, most of them end up dominating women. They think that they can render harm to any extent supposing “female” as the recessive sex and “male” the dominant one. Males, mostly in rural areas, are finding easier to commit crime such as rape as no one punishes or (at least) admonishes them for their evil deeds.

Rapes will without a doubt become Nepal’s tag if the rate goes up this way. Our mothers, daughters and sisters are living unsafely in our society. Even their father and brothers are turning out untrustworthy for them. Instead of being agape at such news, political parties, civil societies and women activists should take crucial steps. Males practicing impertinent behavior like gang-rape or coercion should be bestowed with capital punishment or life imprisonment as a reward. Once caught, culprits should not be released on bail rather they should be punished accordingly, no matter what their background is. It’s high time; we the people should raise a voice and ask for stricter forms of punishment and more accountable police system, a helpline that is available 24* 7 and a massive media campaign. Apart from this , we need to be there to help , support these victims first we need to change our mindset first and support realize that she was unfortunate to be there it could be anyone else ? It could be you, me, our sister, our friend, your girlfriend so let’s get united and fight against these violence. Only then, we can bring rape rate down and ensure that our Nepalese girls are safe.

Written By Manisha Poudel and Aakrity Dhungel

Merged By Bimal Jaiswal