<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141152/636d02399c7e80680e0a366djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2154" height="1068"/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>When the coalition government of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba took office in July, many had hoped it would restore stability after a prolonged political feud. But the alliance has not even been able to complete government formation, nor pass the budget and important legislation on stricter punishment for gender-based violence.Turmoil in Parliament this week, including physical confrontations between members that had to be controlled by marshals, has also meant the budget has not budged, and this has led to a government shutdown from Wednesday — affecting hospital care during the pandemic.Continued opposition by the main opposition UML has meant that besides the budget, critical pieces of ordinance, including one to increase <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/rape-rulings-in-nepal-follow-letter-not-spirit-of-the-law/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/rape-rulings-in-nepal-follow-letter-not-spirit-of-the-law/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1631927850058000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE0uJWaELyu9SdhwI_oKEXopsk9zw">punishment for rape</a> and acid attacks against women have lapsed.“This has bolstered the morale of criminals because it will protect them from punishment,” says Tika Dahal of the Nepal Organisation of Handicapped Women.“It is a crime to threaten victims or buy them off, and the inability to pass these ordinances will mean that fewer women will come forward to lodge complaints,” she adds. There has been a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/in-nepal-lockdown-a-domestic-violence-spike/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/in-nepal-lockdown-a-domestic-violence-spike/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1631927850058000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHWmrd7UmCdVcOO4lA4MaauH1-llg">significant increase in the number of reported rape cases </a>during the Covid-19 pandemic.The ordinances had in the past months brought down the number of rape cases where the perpetrator’s family tried to negotiate a settlement with the victim through intimidation or out-of-court offers of compensation, including getting the rapist to marry the victim.The other ordinance to prevent acid and other corrosive chemical attacks has also lapsed. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-acid-attack-survivors-find-a-saviour/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-acid-attack-survivors-find-a-saviour/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1631927850058000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEYcqgMX1pyu7JVUiclIyf5s03nXw">Activist Ujjwal Bikram Thapa</a> who has been helping women victims of acid attacks and lobbying for the legislation says it is a “national shame” that such an important bill has been allowed to lapse.“Preventing acid attacks on women is not a political issue, it was not for or against any political party,” Thapa said. “If the government cannot act on such a sensitive issue, we as a nation have lost our humanity.”The law would have increased the punishment to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-prolonged-trauma-of-acid-attack-survivors/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-prolonged-trauma-of-acid-attack-survivors/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1631927850058000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFOv0RqIp7iQqmDasfki-F3Q0FUaA">perpetrators of acid attacks</a> to 20 years jail terms, and Rs1 million in fines. If the victim died, the acid assaulter would have to pay compensation to the family. These laws are now not in effect anymore.Nepal’s Constitution mandates that a law or amendment brought by ordinance must be ratified by Parliament within 60 days of being presented to the House, otherwise it is automatically scrapped. The ordinances had been passed on 18 July and expired on Wednesday.“We had actually started seeing a drop in attempts to reach settlements in which the rape accused used power, muscle and money to avoid punishment,” says gender rights activist Sangita Timsina.Menuka Thapa of the group Rakshya Nepal says that after the ordinance stipulating a three-year jail term for those attempting to settle rapes cases out of court, she had seen a drop in such negotiations.Last year, when a 16-year-old was raped by multiple men in Saptari, local elders offered the victim’s family Rs55,000 if they forgave the perpetrator. When the family took a stand saying it wanted justice, not money, influential men in the village threatened them from filing a police case. The young woman committed suicide.But because the ordinance against out-of-court settlement had been passed, the perpetrators Dharma Mandal, Bishnu Mandal, Ranjit Mandal and Ballu Mandal as well as three elders trying to save them from punishment were detained by police.Similarly, at the other end of the country in Bajhang, a 12-year-old Dalit girl was murdered after rape. The alleged rapist Rajendra Bohra had last year been released from jail after this family paid a mere Rs500 to settle an earlier rape case. If the amendment had been in place, the second crime would not have happened.After a series of such rape settlement cases, the government of Prime Minister K P Oli had President Bidya Devi Bhandari sign an ordinance in November last year to amend the laws on rape and other crimes against women.Pressure to settle rape cases by offering money or threats against the victims or their families would be punishable by up to three years in prison and Rs30,000 fine. In fact, the amendment added another 6 months in jail if the one pressuring the victim is an elected official.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141152/636d023d9c7e80680e0a366ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2268" height="1390"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>The parliamentary stalemate has also affected the budget, and from the first of the Nepali month of Ashwin on Friday, the government cannot spend any money which could lead to a shutdown similar to the one that the United States experienced last year after a filibuster in Congress when Donald Trump was president.But while the US has seen such crises before, this is the first time Nepal has had a government shutdown because the House deadlock has meant that the government’s budget ordinance has lapsed.The reason for this state of affairs is that Prime Minister Deuba suspended Parliament when it looked like he could not pass an amendment to the Constitution allowing political parties to split with signatures of just 20% of their parliamentary parties.This was to facilitate Madhav Kumar Nepal to split from the UML to form the CPN (United Socialist) so that he could join the coalition government. K P Oli and the UML is also using his obstruction of the House to exact revenge on the coalition that ousted him.Five-time prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba does not seem too perturbed. When asked by reporters this week how the government would function without a budget, he replied: “As it has functioned in the past.”Parmeswar Dhungana of the Finance Ministry says the first option is to have Parliament when it meets Monday to ratify the ordinance to split parties, that will unblock the other ordinances. The second option is to pass an emergency payment bill, but even for that the political deadlock between the coalition and the UML in both chambers of the House must end.The third option is to suspend Parliament again and pass and renew all pending bills, amendments and the budget by ordinance.This has happened before. Exactly ten years ago when then UML Finance Minister Surendra Pandey tried to present the budget, the current Maoist Finance Minister Janardan Sharma led a charge on the floor of the House and broke Pandey’s red-ribboned budget briefcase. After that, the UML coalition passed the budget by ordinance.The other collateral damage of the deadlock in Parliament is the US-supported <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/just-do-it/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/just-do-it/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1631927850058000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF2KbkdVt5RHXp1wruRR1Tu1HOoVQ">Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)</a> project to increase the capacity of Nepal’s electricity transmission lines and improve highways. The project is already signed but needs to be ratified by Parliament in 2019, but has also been a victim of extreme politics.

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The human cost of Nepal’s political deadlock

<figure><img width="1876" height="1136" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171148/636bda4d9c7e80680e080260jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>For those who are convinced that Nepal is a hopeless cause, and nothing can be achieved, Ujjwal Bikram Thapa is a shining example of activism with impact.The day 28 September will forever be etched in this activist’s memory. After years of lobbying to stop acid attacks that continue to disfigure mostly young women, Nepal’s President Bidya Devi Bhandari finally signed into law two ordinances regulating acid sales and criminalising perpetrators of acid attacks. “It was a victory for all the survivors of acid attacks, a recognition of their suffering and sacrifice,” says Thapa, who has been working relentlessly for the last six years helping many of them with medical treatment and rehabilitation. “They are the heroes. I am simply a medium for change.”  Ujjwal Bikram Thapa, 52, says his main inspiration for social service is his father Mohan Bikram, Nepal’s first forest conservation officer. After the 2015 earthquake, he helped construct 1,000 shelters for families, and has also helped 400 victims of burn related violence, many of them young women punished by in-laws for inadequate dowry.Thapa has devoted his life to social service, and started out helping his father to take care of patients from the family’s ancestral district of Sindhuli to get medical treatment in Kathmandu. After his father died nine years ago, Thapa carried on the work, financing it with earnings from his wife and other investments.Thapa has been encouraged by another famous alumni of Sherwood College in Nainital, Amitabh Bachchan, who has helped publicise his work with acid victims in Nepal and India.  <figure><img width="640" height="343" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171148/636bda509c7e80680e080261jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Indian acid attack activist Laxmi Agrawal also called Thapa last month to appreciate his work to have acid attacks criminalised by law in Nepal – a legislation that has been stuck in India itself. Agrawal’s ordeal became the theme of the Bollywood film <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/sangita-magar-from-survivor-to-champion/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/sangita-magar-from-survivor-to-champion/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1602506081814000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE3w6ZMFhJG9AgDPXRZan0K90G_nQ">Chappak</a>, with Deepika Padukone playing her part.Thapa’s work has not just been to offer immediate assistance for emergency treatment of acid attack victims and to give them a new lease of life, but also to work as a one-man pressure group to bring the new ordinance in force. <figure><img width="640" height="625" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171148/636bda529c7e80680e080262jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Laxmi Agrawal (right) whose story is portrayed by Deepika Padukone in the Bollywood film Chappak.</figcaption></figure>Among those who have benefited from his assistance are acid attack survivors <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/sangita-magar-from-survivor-to-champion/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/sangita-magar-from-survivor-to-champion/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1602506081814000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE3w6ZMFhJG9AgDPXRZan0K90G_nQ">Sangita Magar</a>, Jenny Khadka, Bindabasini Kansakar and many others, whom he has arranged jobs at Kumari Bank. Another victim, Ramraja Thapa, recently found work in the Attorney General’s office. <figure><img width="1886" height="1074" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171148/636bda549c7e80680e080263jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Pabitra Karki and Jenny Khadka.</figcaption></figure>Thapa’s counselling and comfort emboldens victims to move on from their experiences.  He says: “I would rather let them cry for three hours than give them false hope and pretences. Often, I would be the only person telling them that they will probably never look the same.” Instead of pitying survivors, Thapa’s approach has been to restore their confidence and self-esteem. He encouraged 14-year-old <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/using-numbers-to-fight-gender-based-violence/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/using-numbers-to-fight-gender-based-violence/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1602506081814000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGZ5-j0CEmQXWAd0ojzQSEsdFWxSw">Muskan Khatun</a> to write to Prime Minister KP Oli, facilitating the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-prolonged-trauma-of-acid-attack-survivors/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-prolonged-trauma-of-acid-attack-survivors/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1602506081814000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEOal5BlpZnhYknAuucYpSs8nKHpA">high-profile parliamentary hearing, and a meeting</a> last month at Baluwatar between Oli and acid attack survivors that led to the Cabinet decision on the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/lenient-punishment-not-a-deterrent-for-acid-attacks,2077" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/lenient-punishment-not-a-deterrent-for-acid-attacks,2077&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1602506081814000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFYqWDWXyHKiZNDbfnvcZkzjQ8cNg">ordinance.</a>Thapa has also built a solidarity group of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=13549#.X4Lxpi8RoWo" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D13549%23.X4Lxpi8RoWo&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1602506081814000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEUxmt-ALcGaSsIGXDDZ4r5PxQJyg">acid attack survivors</a> who help each other, visiting the latest victim in hospital to provide moral and material support. Many call Thapa “father”, “uncle” or sometimes even “grandfather”, and speak of him with great fondness. The first person at Rajaram Thapa’s side at Teaching Hospital recently, for instance, was 16-year-old Muskan Khatun, who herself was splashed with acid last year in Birganj by a rejected suitor.“Ties of acid run thicker than blood,” explains Thapa, who traces the beginning of his work with acid attack victims to an incident at Bir Hospital in 2015. He was attending to an ailing relative, when there was a loud commotion at the emergency. <figure><img width="1882" height="1224" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171148/636bda579c7e80680e080264jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Sangita Magar and Ram Raja Thapa.</figcaption></figure><a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2015/02/24/acid-victims-want-justice/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2015/02/24/acid-victims-want-justice/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1602506081814000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHEtq1TWtApL8oa9dnvzSisPDXwiA">Sangita Magar</a> had just been brought in, her head disfigured and crying in pain. She was 16 when a young man threw acid at her during an SLC tuition class in Kathmandu. Thapa’s world shook as he pictured his three daughters in Sangita’s place. “I could not bear looking at her. I could only see my daughters in her place,” he recalls. “This was the first time in my life I felt so helpless.” Thapa decided to turn his outrage into action, and his appeals to then Prime Minister Lokendra Chand and Home Minister Bamdev Gautam secured free treatment for Sangita, who went on to finish her SLC exam and get free college education at Nobel Academy. The new legislation will now allow survivors like Sangita to have the government cover lifetime treatment costs, and her nasal reconstruction surgery that will cost Rs1.8 million will also be possible. Her nose was so badly burnt by the acid that surgeons grafted tissue from her thigh to allow her to breathe through her left ear.“After seven years, Sangita will not have to breathe through her ear again, she can breathe through her nose,” Thapa says.Bindabasini Kansakar had Rs70 worth of acid thrown at her, but her medical treatment so far has cost Rs20 million. Says Thapa: “The shopkeeper who sold the acid must have made just Rs20 profit on that bottle. With the new law, he will not be able to sell acid so easily.”In September 2018, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/daughter-slaughter/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/daughter-slaughter/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1602506081814000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG23J2mnwkwOhsV_uY129m-iRjcEw">Samjhana and Sushmita Das had acid splashed on them</a> by a neighbour in Rautahat district. Samjhana had nearly 50% burns and her skin had melted away. Sushmita’s injuries were less serious.Samjhana fought for life, but died 12 days later, the hospital would not let her family take her body until they paid the bills. "I made a promise to Samjhana’s soul that day I would not rest until these crimes are stopped,” Thapa says. Jenny Khadka was attacked with acid by husband Bishnu Bhujel in May 2019 after a quarrel. She was taken to the burns hospital in Kirtipur. The crime on Khadka had been in the media headlines, and Thapa remembers a 12-year-old girl greeting him at the hospital entrance giving him an envelope and saying: “Ujjwal Sir, this is for Jenny’s treatment.”Before he could ask her anything more, she disappeared. He opened the envelope to find Rs21. Thapa is emotional relating this incident. Thapa was awarded Nepal’s Social Service Medal on Constitution Day last month, but he says the real prize will be won by Nepalis the day the legislation comes into full effect.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NAkdUC4j7o&amp;feature=emb_logoWhile <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/corrosive-conduct/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/corrosive-conduct/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1602506081814000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHVRjXqPy12X-Iw6ly3QWD01NO3Ew">coverage of acid attacks</a> are mostly sensational stories of rejected proposals and revenge on women, there is a broader criminal intent. Four male victims of such attacks have been reported, not one of whom has received any state assistance. With new legislation in place, they are hopeful to also be recognised. “Gender will no more be an issue in the delivery of justice,” says Rajaram Thapa, whose wife threw acid on him.   The new laws introduce tougher punishment for perpetrators. Murder by acid attack carries a life sentence, while damage to vital organs such as eyes, ears, mouth and chest now carries a 20-year prison term. Damage to limbs and peripheral organs carries a 15-year term, while even the intent to attack carries at least a 10-year sentence.  The government has also waived treatment costs for victims, taking responsibility for their preliminary and long-term treatment.  The new laws are expected to reduce acid attacks by tightening acid sales and reducing access to them.

Nepal’s acid attack survivors find a saviour

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914110/636ba51f9c7e80680e0736a6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1050" height="678"/><figcaption>Sangita Thapa Magar, Jenny Khadka and Muskaan Khatun at a Parliament hearing last week to lobby for stricter punishment for perpetrators of acid attacks. Photo: Himal Khabarpatrika</figcaption></figure>Teenage survivors of acid attacks, nearly all of them young women, say regulating the over-the-counter sale of acid and life imprisonment for perpetrators are the only ways to stop the kind of attacks that disfigured them for life.Some of these women attended a hearing convened by Parliament’s Women and Social Committee in Singha Durbar last week, just after news came in of another horrific attack on a young woman in Kathmandu by an employer who reportedly sought revenge for having his advances spurned.Among those at the hearing was <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/using-numbers-to-fight-gender-based-violence/">Muskaan Khatun</a>, 14, who survived an acid attack last year in the street while on her way to school, scarring her right ear, cheek and neck. Two suspects were detained by the police.Images of Muskaan Khatun went viral on social media, and coincided with the release of the  Bollywood film Chhapaak on acid attacks on women in India. Khatun went on to use her high media profile to raise awareness about acid attacks.Khatun came for the hearing wearing a black scarf last week with her parents, which she took off once inside the room, revealing the scarred right side of her face. She burst into tears while recalling the attack and the pain and suffering afterwards during the many operations at a hospital in Kirtipur that treats burn victims.“Doctors recommend that I apply medicine on my wounds five times a day, but I can only afford to do it once a day because it is so expensive,” Khatun said as the masked committee members listened. “I have another nine years of treatment, how am I going to complete it? My parents have no work.”Also at the hearing were other survivors like Jenny Khadka and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/sangita-magar-from-survivor-to-champion/">Sangita Thapa Magar</a> who shared their pain from acid attacks.Khadka used to be beaten often by her husband, and one day she had enough and went to a police station in her torn clothes to report an assault. The police sent her away and told her to sort out her domestic problems herself.Her husband then poured acid on her, burning her hand, neck and body. Now, a year later, she has to be careful while dressing, her skin is often dry and painful.“Throughout my life, I was never sick. Now I need life-long medication, and I am deeply in debt,” says Khadka. “People take pity on me, and that makes me feel even more helpless.”Khadka is livid that while her life has been ruined, she has lost her job, and her mother became ill with stress her husband is not suffering much. The hospital where she was treated refused to discharge her because she did not have the money to clear her bills, and she was only allowed to leave after her friends raised money through Facebook.“Those who attacked us are clothed and fed in jail and are looking forward to the day that they will be released, while we suffer endless pain,” Khadka says. “I am against the death penalty because that would end it all in a second for them. They should have to bear prolonged suffering like us.”Sangita Thapa Magar was 16 in 2015 when she was attacked by a young Dalit man who had been trying to have a relationship with her. Magar’s parents had told him to stop pursuing their daughter, and in revenge he bought Rs125 worth of acid in a shop in New Road and splashed it across her face while she was taking tuition.She has since had 17 surgical procedures on her face, her hopes of one day making it to Nepal’s national karate team now dashed. Magar is now determined to be an activist against acid attacks, and to help other victims like her cope with the physical and mental scars. Magar is now afraid because her attacker has been released from jail."It may be a feeling of revenge, but we would like our attackers to also suffer like us, maybe that will reduce the number of attacks,” she told the Parliament committee. “If stricter laws had been enacted as soon as I was attacked, maybe Jenny and Muskaan would not have to suffer.”Khatun, Khadka and Magar were attacked by different men, but they have been joined by fate and vow to continue their work to help other like them, including Pabitra Karki the latest victim whom they all went to see in hospital last month.Karki, 22, was attacked in Kathmandu by her by a man hired by her employer who had taken fancy to her, and has severe burns in her face and hands. Police have arrested both men, while Karki is getting help from charities and good Samaritans like Ujjwal Bikram Thapa who also helped Khatun.According to a police study, nearly all acid attacks are perpetrated by men who act in revenge because the young women rejected their advances. But this is the first time lawmakers have called acid attack survivors for a hearing to understand their struggles and discuss the existing laws that allow the crime to happen.The committee has directed the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens, and the National Commission for Women to provide education, health treatment, employment, and social rehabilitation to the victims of acid attacks.It also says that the punishment in the existing law is not enough of a deterrence and has instructed the Ministry of Home Affairs to start the process of amending the law to make way for stricter sentencing. The Office of the Attorney General under Agni Kharel on 2 August formed a committee headed by Deputy Attorney General Bishwaraj Koirala to look into the laws and submit a report within a month.<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=13549#.XyoPTBMzbRY">Many cases</a> of women suffering acid attacks have surfaced over the past two decades, every time there is yet another horrific crime there are calls for stricter laws and control in acid sales. This time, the survivors want their voices heard and action taken to deter future attacks.

The prolonged trauma of acid attack survivors

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYpX9KyWw9g&amp;feature=youtu.beFour years after surviving an acid attack, and following 17 surgical procedures on her face, Sangita Magar and her family are re-traumatised by the pending release from jail of her attacker Jiwan B K.When B K was arrested days after the acid attack on his neighbour Sangita, then a high-school student, he threatened to kill the family after serving his sentence. Says Sangita’s mother Chameli Magar: “We take his threat very seriously. He is unrepentant and could do it again.”<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110812110/636a36c49c7e80680e048326jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="354" height="94"/>In 2015 Sangita Magar was 16, taking tutorials for her high school exam and dreaming of one day making it to Nepal’s national karate team. She was happy, had many friends, did well in school and wanted to become a doctor.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/daughter-slaughter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daughter Slaughter</a>, Monika Deupala<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/corrosive-conduct/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Corrosive Conduct</a>, EditorialThose carefree days are reflected in Sangita's small bedroom. On the blue wall is a framed photograph of a young girl posing with her sari-clad mother. Several medals for winning karate championships hang between two flags of Nepal. On the bedside table sit various shades of nail polish, and beside them is a birthday greeting card urging the receiver to ‘appreciate the moments that have filled your life with laughter and joy’.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110812110/636a36c59c7e80680e048327jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="1447"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110812110/636a36c89c7e80680e048328jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="786"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Sangita and her friend Sima Basnet were at a tuition centre in the Basantapur neighbourhood of Kathmandu when a boy in a hoodie entered the room, splashed a fiery liquid on them and fled.Sangita first thought someone had thrown a balloon filled with hot water at her, but she felt her face, hands and body burn. Instinctively, she rushed out into the street and ran all the way home to her mother.When she arrived, her skin was peeling off, and Sangita was screaming in pain. Chameli Magar, poured water on her daughter, and with the help of neighbours rushed her to Bir Hospital. That is all Sangita remembers of the day.Due to her critical condition, Sangita was referred to KMC Hospital, where doctors managed to save her life but not her face. After many surgical procedures in the past four years, despite bouts of depression and fear of facing people, Sangita is now an undergraduate and has become a social activist supporting other survivors of acid attacks in Nepal.Unlike most victims who are reclusive and unwilling to talk, Sangita is confident and forthright. The more outspoken she is in public, the more Sangita feels she can be effective in exposing the misogyny and violence that lies at the root of the crime committed against her.She also wants to set the media right for how unfairly reporters treated her and her family after the acid attack. She breaks down in tears as she recalls reporters bombarding her with personal questions and forcing her to relive her trauma, even blaming her for the attack.“So many journalists came to interview me, and they all asked questions in a very insensitive manner that were difficult to answer,” she recalls. “I could feel my pain and suffering get worse.”A few days after the attack, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2015/03/20/police-nab-acid-attacker/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">police tracked down Sangita's attacker Jiwan B K</a> and produced him before the media. B K was unrepentant, telling reporters he carried out the acid attack to seek revenge against the Magar family for having mistreated him <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/on-the-road/acid-attacks-caste-discrimination,463" target="_blank" rel="noopener">because he was a Dalit</a>. Some in the media insinuated that Sangita and Jiwan were having an affair and that she had rejected him because of his caste.Sangita has had four years to analyse Jiwan’s motive, and thinks it all started with a dispute over a toilet shared by several families living in her neighbourhood. Jiwan B K had an altercation with Sangita’s brother Santosh over the use of the bathroom, and the dispute escalated, leading Jiwan to take revenge on the girl.Sangita’s friend Sima Basnet, who was slightly injured in the attack, is now in India and will soon graduate in political science. Both the girls now want to devote their lives to helping victims of acid attacks by providing counselling, ensuring justice is done, and by addressing the roots of the crime in Nepal’s patriarchal mores.Meanwhile, Chameli Magar blames herself for perhaps not doing enough to protect her daughter that fateful morning four years ago. She was told she should have poured milk on Sangita instead of water to neutralise the acid, which she did not know then.Chameli was initially worried that Sangita would give up studies and work as a cleaner like herself. She supported her daughter as she overcame bouts of depression during her recovery, and encouraged her to go out more.“I never got a chance to learn how to read and write,” says Chameli. “I now clean other people’s homes for a living, I don’t want my daughter to end up like me. I am proud of her for <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=13549#.XMGTLzAzbIW" target="_blank" rel="noopener">supporting other victims</a>, in the same way that many of us provided her with emotional support after the attack.”Thanks to her mother, Sangita has gained confidence to venture out, return to school and advocate for change. She wants the sale of acid in shops to be strictly controlled and is lobbying the health ministry to create a separate facility for acid burn patients, so they get specialised care.Sangita’s activism has inspired many people in Nepal and abroad, and has turned her into a role model. Many <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/daughter-slaughter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">acid attack survivors</a> have reached out to her. Sangita says she does not want people’s pity but to join her struggle for justice.Section 193 of the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/lenient-punishment-not-a-deterrent-for-acid-attacks,2077" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Criminal Code</a>, which came into effect in August 2018, states that acid attackers will be fined up to Rs300,000 and/or be jailed 5-8 years depending on the seriousness of the attack. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/corrosive-conduct/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">If the victim dies</a>, the culprit faces a murder charge.Sangita wants the punishment to be more stringent, and the law to be amended to include payment for the victim’s treatment as well as compensation. For now, her family’s main worry is that Jiwan is getting out of jail soon, and that he may attack again.<h2>Acid is a weapon​</h2><a href="https://www.bvsnepal.org.np/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Burns Violence Survivors (BVS)</a> Nepal has been helping an average of 250 patients with burns caused by fire and acid every year. Many are women burnt by in-laws for not providing enough dowry, but the organisation has also been helping victims (almost all young women) who have been subjected to acid attacks by husbands, jealous and spurned men or in-laws. Acid is corrosive and damages human tissue by eating through the skin into the muscles and bone. The healing process is also longer than for survivors burned by fire, and acid attack survivors need specialised care.<a href="http://www.bvsnepal.org.np" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.bvsnepal.org.np</a><h2>The Interrogation</h2>The acid attack on Sangita Magar was all over the news that week in February 2015. I used to live near the Magar residence, and knew the family, so I followed the news with interest. One morning a week after the attack, I received a phone call from Hanuman Dhoka Police.I felt a chill run down my spine since I had done nothing wrong, and wondered how the police found my number. They wanted to talk to me about a phone call I had received that morning.When I arrived, many other people were waiting to be questioned, so I felt less nervous. The police wanted to know who had called me. I told them it was my friend who lived in the neighbourhood where the attack occurred, calling to wake me up to go to my high school class.I was impressed that the police had the ability to check every number by geolocation. It was two weeks later that they tracked down Jiwan B K and arrested him.Animesh Shrestha<h2>The Das Sisters</h2><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110812110/636a36cb9c7e80680e048329jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="933"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>It has been eight months since the rainy night when a neighbour splashed acid on the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/daughter-slaughter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Das sisters</a> as they slept in their home in Chandrapur of Rautahat.Samjhana Das, 18, had burns to 35% of her body and was rushed to a hospital in Kathmandu, where she died an agonising death 12 days later. Her sister Sushmita, 16, survived but wears high-neck, full sleeve clothes to hide the burn scars.“I miss my sister a lot. I don’t want to go back to my village: there are too many bad memories and the same old questions that I am not ready for from people,” says Sushmita softly while waiting for a surgeon's appointment (right). She now lives with her aunt in Kathmandu because her mother is separated from her father and works in Malaysia.It was Samjhana’s testimony from her hospital bed that led to the arrest of the family’s neighbour, Rambabu Paswan, who she said used to stalk and repeatedly proposition her.After the attack, Paswan had helped the sisters’ father rush the girls to Kathmandu for treatment. At the hospital he even told Nepali Times (#929, pictured above, left) that the girls “are like daughters to me”. It was all an act.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/e-paper-new/929-28-sep-4-oct/" data-elementor-open-lightbox=""></a><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110812110/636a36ce9c7e80680e04832ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="959">Paswan is now behind bars in Rautahat Jail. Government lawyer Khadindra Raj Katuwal, who has been handling the case, said that paperwork is taking time but added: “Paswan will be in jail for life as this case is being tried as a murder.”Sushmita is in Grade 8 in a Kathmandu school, and is hoping for a better life and future.Monika Deupala<h2>Acid attack makes it to Bollywood</h2><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110812110/636a36d19c7e80680e04832bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="974">Laxmi Agarwal was just 15 in New Delhi when an acid attack disfigured her entire face. Since then she has become an activist, leading the Stop Sale Acid campaign to end the easy availability of acid in roadside shops. However, very few people knew about her story before Bollywood’s celebrity actress Deepika Padukone decided to make a biopic about her journey.Chhapak (Splash) is releasing in January 2020 but has already created a stir in the media, with every post Padukone shares about the shoot on social media going viral. The actress wears shocking prosthetic makeup reproducing the damaged skin on Agarwal’s face.“I never imagined that one day people would recreate the look of an acid victim, or even make a biopic on my life,” Agarwal told an interviewer, crediting the movie, and especially Padukone, for her fame. Agarwal hopes the movie will be “a tight slap on the face of my attacker, who thought he had destroyed my life”.Nepal’s own Rekha Thapa also produced a movie, Rudrapriya, focusing on acid attacks, but Bollywood’s wider reach will give the crime much more publicity. Agarwal’s story shares many similarities with the case in Nepal of Samjhana and Sushmita Das last year (see above). Like Samjhana, Agarwal was attacked as a teenager by a man twice her age for rejecting her advances. Samjhana succumbed to her injuries, while her sister Sushmita survived.Chhapak is expected to help efforts in both India and Nepal to regulate the sale of acid.

Sangita Magar: from survivor to champion

https://youtu.be/7NAkdUC4j7oIt was raining hard that Tuesday night on 11 September in Chandrapur of Rautahat. In the Das family home, teenage sisters Samjhana and Sushmita told their parents they were going to bed.The thatched roof, single-storey house had three rooms, one where the two sisters slept and another for their step-mother and younger sister. Their father, Jadolal Das, and his son walked to the family's pool room that they rented to locals.Sushmita remembers being woken up about midnight by her sister’s screams. Then she felt a burning pain in her own hands and body. Neighbours rushed to the house on hearing the sisters’ cries, their step-mother was confused and did not know why the two were screaming.Read also: '<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/corrosive-conduct/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Corrosive conduct</a>', EditorialAfter the neighbours figured out that this was an acid attack, they took the sisters to a tap and washed the burns. The girls were rushed to Kirtipur Hospital in Kathmandu after a local hospital said treatment was not possible.Both sisters writhed in pain throughout the bumpy seven hour ride all night to reach Kathmandu at 9AM. Sushmita remembers her sister’s blistered face contorted in pain, and her hair scalded. “I was so scared the whole time,” she said.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/four-fold-increase-in-reported-rape-in-10-years/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Four-fold increase in reported rape in 10 years</a>, Sewa Bhattarai<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/how-does-the-nepali-media-cover-rape/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">How does the Nepali media cover rape?</a>, Bhrikuti RaiThe burn ward in Kritipur Hospital reeked of disinfectant. Sushmita was at the corner of the ward with bandages on her right hand and neck. Her sister lay bandaged and covered in a blanket in the Intensive Care Unit nearby.The heart monitor was beeping, and there was the sound of rough breathing. A visitor called out her name. She replied “hajur” in a trembling voice. It was too painful for her to talk. She had burns over 35% of her body, including her head, chest, back and face.Plastic surgeon Surendra Basnet had already performed one operation on Samjhana that morning, but warned the prognosis was not good.The nurses were dressing Sushmita’s wounds, which were not as serious. She was crying, praying for her sister. “I did not even know what acid was, I did not know it could burn you like that,” she said, in a weak voice.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161124/636923119c7e80680e03a161jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="584"/><figcaption>Pahilopost.com</figcaption></figure>Outside, in the corridor was the girls’ father Jadolal Das. But also hovering around making phone calls and holding hospital bills was a neighbour, Rambabu Paswan. When quizzed about his relation with the family he said: “I am a neighbour, but I am like a father to the girls. I watched them grow up.”Asked if he suspected anyone, Paswan told us Jadolal Das had a long-standing feud about property with his elder brother. He added: “She had just straightened her hair a few days ago, and was looking very pretty, I cannot believe she will not look like that anymore.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/republic-of-rape/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Republic of rape</a>, Editorial<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/justice-for-sale/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Justice for Sale</a>, Tufan Neupane<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161124/636923139c7e80680e03a162jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="1067"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The sisters’ mother, whom Jadolal Das had divorced, was working in Malaysia. Samjhana had dropped out of Grade 10, and Sushmita was in Grade 8. The family had some savings, but friends in Chandrapur raised money for the sisters’ treatment.A few days after Nepali Times visited the hospital, police arrested Rambabu Paswan, the neighbour who had told us the sisters were “like daughters to me”. Police found that he had made 180 calls to Samjhana over the fortnight prior to the attack. Samjhana confirmed to her father that Paswan was the attacker, and he would call her often to propose sex. (See box.)On Monday 24 September, at the age of 18, Samjhana died of multiple organ failure. Doctors had performed three surgeries, and although they tried their best, they could not save her life. She was taken back to Chandrapur and cremated on the banks of the Bagmati, the same river that flows down from Kathmandu Valley.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161124/636923169c7e80680e03a163jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="1067"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The girls’ mother is back from Malaysia and is looking after Sushmita in Kirtipur Hospital. Police have detained Paswan, and are conducting further investigations to charge sheet him.Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=13549#.W6zOR3szbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Acid attacks</a>, Manoj Shrestha in Biratnagar<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/lenient-punishment-not-a-deterrent-for-acid-attacks,2077" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Corrosive laws</a>, Binita Dahal<h4>Another day, Another acid attack</h4><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161124/636923189c7e80680e03a164jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="1051">On the very day that Samjhana Das died because of her burns in a Kathmandu hospital after ten agonising days, Basanti Pariyar was coming home from Kawasoti market of Nawalparasi when she was attacked with acid and stabbed multiple times. The mother of two was set upon by her neighbour, Bimal Sripali, 37, and she is being treated at Bharatpur Hospital for stab wounds in her abdomen and head and acid burn injuries in her face, chest and hands.Police said Sripali had started divorce proceedings against his wife, and may have been making advances on Pariyar, 26, which she rejected. Basanti was with her sister and another woman when they passed Sripali, who grabbed her by the hair and poured acid on her face. Sripali has confessed to the crime, and said he went to Birganj to buy the acid.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161124/6369231c9c7e80680e03a165jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1107">On the same day in Pokhara, Shriya Sunar, 10, was found dead in Kodi village. She had gone to the market to buy biscuits. The post-mortem report states that the girl was raped, choked and hit on the head with stones. A Kusum Poudel, 27, and four other suspects have been arrested. Poudel confessed to the crime, and said he was drunk and stoned. Two days earlier, in faraway Jumla, a teenage girl was raped while returning home from festival. The police caught two teenage suspects.A Nepali Times investigation shows 479 girls and women have been attacked or raped in less than three months all over Nepal (see map, above). But those are just the ones reported to police, the real figure may be higher.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/perpetuating-patriarchy-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Perpetuating patriarchy in Nepal</a>, Deepti Gurung<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2015/02/24/acid-victims-want-justice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Acid victims want justice</a><h2>Total rape and attempted rape cases 17 July to 28 September 2018 in province 1, 3 and 4.</h2><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161124/6369231f9c7e80680e03a166jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="313"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161124/636923229c7e80680e03a167jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="262"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161124/636923249c7e80680e03a168jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="301"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><h2>Update: Total rape and attempted rape cases 17 July to 28 September 2018 in Kathmandu Valley</h2><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161124/636923269c7e80680e03a169jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="487" height="198"><h4>A father's story</h4>I own a Pool Centre which is about a kilometre away from the house. My son and I sleep there because there isn’t enough room at home. That night, I said bye to my family after dinner and left for the pool room with my son. It was raining heavily and I could barely sleep because of the noise on the roof. At midnight, I got a frantic call from my wife and all I could hear were her cries. I woke up my son and we rushed home.The room was full of a smoky, stinky smell. I saw the dread in the faces of my daughters. I had no idea what had happened there. The neighbours had already called an ambulance, but it was late so I took my injured daughters in a borrowed scooter to nearest Chakor Hospital.For two hours, the doctors applied medicines and bandages on the burns, but then suggested that I take them to Kathmandu. An ambulance driver helped me out. The doctors gave my daughters painkillers and we drove off at 3AM.Rambabu Paswan, my neighbour insisted that he come along. It took us seven hours to reach Kathmandu and my daughters were finally sent to the operating rooms. Sushmita had suffered 4% burns in her body, but Samjhana had 35% and was kept in the ICU. I wept when I saw her there.The Rautahat police called me up after a few days and asked me about the relationship of my daughter with Rambabu Paswan. I said we were neighbours, but the police sounded suspicious. They told me he had called her 180 times in the 15 days before the attack, but that his phone was now switched off. So, in the hospital in Kathmandu, I asked Paswan where his phone was, and he said he had lost it while sleeping outside the ICU.The next day, detectives found acid burn marks on Paswan's  fingers. I went to the ICU and asked Samjhana if Paswan was the culprit. She nodded, “Yes.” She told me haltingly how Paswan used to stalk her, and call repeatedly to proposition her.Paswan was arrested from the premises of the hospital in Kathmandu the next day, but that was no consolation for us. Samjhana died. We took her back to her hometown for her funeral so her friends could say their last goodbye. All I want now is for Paswan to be punished. Why is the government not doing anything when crimes like these are happening every day to daughters like Samjhana?(As told to Monika Deupala)Read also: #<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Here-We-Go/2013-jun-21-here-we-go-gender-violence,122" target="_blank" rel="noopener">genderviolence</a>, Trishna Rana“<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/rihana-sheikh-dhaphali-victim-of-dowry-related-violence-nepal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">My husband and in-laws left me to die</a>”, Ayesha Shakya<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161124/636923279c7e80680e03a16ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="893"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>

Monika Deupala

Daughter Slaughter

https://youtu.be/7NAkdUC4j7oThere is an argument that there has not been an abrupt rise in the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/republic-of-rape/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">number of rape cases</a> in Nepal, it is just being reported more now. It is difficult to say what is worse: that it used to be hidden, or that victims and their families are coming forward to complain to the police.That is because the high profile cases of rape and abuse in the past few months have shown that the police is actually involved in protecting perpetrators, falsely accusing the innocent, destroying evidence, and covering up the truth. Combined with cases of recent encounter killings, the actions have led to a serious erosion of the public’s confidence in the police. In fact, there may be many victims now who are not going to file a complaint because they fear harassment and fabrication.As we reported last month, the number of reported rape cases in Nepal has increased by 30% in the past year. It has <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/four-fold-increase-in-reported-rape-in-10-years/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">multiplied four times</a> in ten years . There have been 479 rape and attempted rape complaints brought to the police since the horrific murder of Nirmala Panta in Kanchanpur on 26 July. A special committee assigned to investigate the case, while accusing the district police chief of covering up, came no closer to naming the suspects.Read also: '<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=14002&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daughter Slaughter</a>', Monica DeupalaThe police have been equally ineffective in tackling a surge in copy-cat <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/lenient-punishment-not-a-deterrent-for-acid-attacks,2077" target="_blank" rel="noopener">acid attacks</a> in the past two weeks. The shocking case of Samjhana Das in Rautahat has once more exposed the culture of misogyny, patriarchy and impunity that corrodes our society. Men perpetrate these heinous crimes because they are brought up with a sense of entitlement and the conviction that they will never be convicted. There are also mothers-in-law and women who commit gender crimes, but by and large, it is a male-dominated activity.Acid attacks are especially horrific since they disfigure the victim for life, even if they survive. Pouring acid on a person is like burning them alive. In most cases, the root cause is the same as in rape, and often it is to take revenge for rebuffing an advance.We have reported in the past <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=13549" target="_blank" rel="noopener">decades </a>in this paper about how acid attacks and bride burning are also perpetrated by in-laws for insufficient dowry. <figure><img width="800" height="769" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161120/636922d09c7e80680e03a14bjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Diwakar Chettri</figcaption></figure>The survivors often lose their sight and are maimed because the acid burns through the skin down to the bone. They suffer months of excruciating pain even if they do not survive, like Samjhana Das, who died on Monday two weeks after an acid attack. Her 15-year-old younger sister, Sushmita Das, was also injured. A neighbour, Rambabu Paswan, has confessed he used acid on them because Samjhana had rejected him.Three years ago in the heart of Kathmandu, a fellow-student squirted acid on a class mate, and because it happened in the capital, the crime got wide play in the media. When the perpetrator was finally caught, it turned out to be a case of someone taking revenge against the girl’s family, who lived next door, for being taunted for being a <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/on-the-road/acid-attacks-caste-discrimination,463" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dalit</a>.The case illustrates how in Nepal there are layers upon layers of pent-up grievances against injustice and discrimination. Stricter measures on the purchase of acid, and monitoring its use may be a deterrence, but as long as the root causes of gender-based violence remain, potential perpetrators will simply use another tool to attack girls and women.There is also urgent action needed to make the laws against acid attacks at least as strict, if not stricter than the ones for rape, bride-burning and other heinous crimes against women. At the moment, perpetrators only get a maximum of eight years in jail if convicted of carrying out an acid attack.Violence against women is a manifestation of the pervasive patriarchy in our culture. Misogyny is sanctioned by religious texts, folklore, movies, songs. Insulting women is taken as a joke. We have to look deeply inwards as a society to question values that we as a people seem to have come to accept as normal.Despite the new Constitution, the scale of justice in Nepal is still skewed. The persistence of gender based violence is the result of pervasive <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/justice-for-sale/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">impunity</a>, where men, powerful people, upper castes, urban dwellers, appear to have more protection from prosecution for crimes than women, lower castes, the poor, and weak.It should be the state’s responsibility -- to protect with prevention, investigation and justice -- the most vulnerable section of society. Alas, in our case, it is the most influential who are protected.It is meaningless to boast that Nepal’s Parliament has one of the highest representation of women in the world when we have such a poor record in granting women equal citizenship rights, and in protecting our mothers and sisters against crimes.Read also: '<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=14002&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daughter Slaughter</a>', Monica Deupala<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-roots-of-rape/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The roots of Rape</a>, Kedar Sharma<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/republic-of-rape/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Republic of Rape</a> <img width="1500" height="984" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161120/636922d29c7e80680e03a14cjpeg.jpg" alt=""><h2>10 years ago this week</h2> Writing in the #416 issue of Nepali Times of 5-11 September 2008, the head of UNMIN Ian Martin wrote about the successes of Nepal’s peace process, but warned that Nepalis should not have to wait till the new Constitution (which was still long six years away then) to see an improvement in their lives. Excerpts from Martin's op-ed:Nepal’s unique peace process has rarely gained outside attention since the guns fell silent two years ago. Yet, this success story deserves to be recognised and supported. Expectations are high among diverse groups for greater control of their lives and resources. But what federalism will mean in practice, taking account of the geographic and ethnic peculiarities of Nepal, remains elusive and potentially divisive. Reaching a national consensus will be a formidable task for the Constituent Assembly, and meanwhile the Nepali people cannot be expected to wait patiently until a new constitution is drafted to see real improvement in their daily lives.But there is reason to be hopeful. Nepal’s peace process has been truly indigenous: it has not been mediated or managed by any external party. The UN has encouraged and facilitated the process through good offices during the last years of the conflict, human rights monitoring, assistance to the election, and monitoring arms and armies during the transition. <img width="510" height="797" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161120/636922d59c7e80680e03a14djpeg.jpg" alt="">

CORROSIVE CONDUCT

One smoggy winter morning in February 2019, Ekta regretted coming to her sculpture class. It was the first day of her period, and the 19-year-old wished she was home, curled up in bed with a hot water bag to soothe her cramps.
Her class was at Kalapremi Ceramic Studio, a dark room on the ground floor of a house in Maharajganj, and Ekta’s teacher was the artist Gopal Das Shrestha ‘Kalapremi’, a noted sculptor.
Two other students were already there, using all their muscle strength to knead the sculpting clay. Ekta, now 24, recalls how Kalapremi asked her if she was feeling all right. She avoided him, as she did not want everyone to know she was menstruating.
Kalapremi repeatedly asked Ekta what was wrong. She finally muttered that she was having her period, after which he grabbed her hand and led her to a partitioned corner of the studio and sat her on a chair. Before she could stop him, he slid his hand under her dress, and started massaging her abdomen.
“I was horrified,” Ekta recalls. “I told him to stop, but he didn’t listen, asking me not to be shy, saying he knew how to relieve my pain. He stopped only after I protested furiously.”&nbsp;
The art tutor then said, “You’re like my daughter. I’m doing it out of love to make you feel better, but you’re so stubborn.”&nbsp;
“Instead of saying sorry he acted like I was the one having crazy thoughts,” remembers Ekta, adding that from April 2016 to August 2020 beginning the time she was 16, the artist sexually abused and harassed her on several occasions. &nbsp;
Now, Ekta and the artist’s other former students are finally sharing their experiences and some are pressing legal charges against him, hoping that others do not have to endure what they did.&nbsp;
Award-winning artist and teacher Gopal Das Shrestha ‘Kalapremi’ (the name means ‘Art Lover’) is known for his ceramic art, sculpture, and contemporary pottery. He was <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/the-house-of-kalapremi">profiled in Nepali Times after a collaborative exhibition</a>, ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ at the Siddhartha Art Gallery three years ago.&nbsp;
His pieces, titled Gaalis, featured sculpted female figures with the heads of dogs, sheep, and donkeys (pictured) to depict derogatory terms for women. Some critics said the collection was a satire on feminists.
Kalapremi started his artistic and teaching career in 1983 and over the years taught at Bhanubhakta School, Kathmandu University School of Arts, Lalitkala Campus and at his private Kalapremi Ceramic Studio. He has also lectured at Jeonju University in South Korea and recently at Tabor Academy in the United States.
Seven of Kalapremi’s former students were interviewed for this story. Five female students said he touched them inappropriately in his studio or at Kathmandu University. Two male students said they witnessed him abuse and harass the women. In all cases, the students struggled to recognise the abuse when it occurred, and the lack of reporting systems left them to cope on their own for years.&nbsp;
Earlier this year, students shared a social media post hinting at Kalapremi’s history of abusive behaviour following which more students of the artist reached out sharing similar experiences. Some students spoke of abuse that happened as long as 20 years ago.
Kalapremi, 60, has denied the allegations. He told Nepali Times: “Some years ago, there was a movement encouraging people to hug and kiss. I used to do it purely out of friendship and love. But after seeing posts on social media last year calling out my behaviour, I realised my actions may have hurt some people. I understand now that I should have been more mindful.”
He added: “I am also an auxiliary health worker, so I know the exact points to massage to relieve menstrual pain. It’s not just menstruation, I take anyone who is ill to the hospital.”
Sexual abuse is much more rampant than reported given how difficult it is to prove it in court. The law defines sexual abuse as occuring when someone touches another’s private parts, coerces them into touching theirs, uses vulgar language, shows degrading images, or behaves indecently towards them without consent.&nbsp;
Ekta and her fellow students are consulting lawyer Suneeta Regmi Pokhrel, who says they know that even if the court decides in their favour, it is difficult to survive after speaking up, and influential men defend themselves saying they are being framed.&nbsp;
“They are in a lot of pain and weep when recalling how he abused them,” Regmi Pokhrel told us. “They are angry and have filed a case against him, but they are also terrified. They know he is a powerful man and they have seen how our society treats women who speak up against abusers. Unless people speak up, perpetrators will be emboldened.”
Art and academia in Nepal simply reflect the power imbalances in society where people with intersecting identities experience worse forms of abuse. Theatre actors Raj Kumar Pudasaini, Rajan Khatiwada, and Sunil Pokhrel were called out during the #MeToo movement in the Nepali theatre scene in 2019. Even after the allegations Pokhrel went on to receive national awards, while others continued to work without repercussions.
“If you speak up against abusers, you gradually get sidelined from projects,” explained a theatre artist who wished anonymity fearing professional setbacks. “The theatre scene in Nepal is quite small, you just have to make peace with the perpetrators and work with them if you want to sustain yourself.”&nbsp;
In academia there is a history of faculty members sexually harassing students and getting away with it. After Tribhuvan University (TU) lecturer Krishna Bhattachan was accused of harassing women students, the university said it would follow Nepal’s sexual harassment law and set up a reporting mechanism. But nothing happened to the professor, who had already retired. Instead, he counter-accused the students of 'attacking the indigenous people’s movement with baseless allegations' as <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/letters/2019/01/29/bhattachan-responds">he told the Kathmandu Post in 2019</a>. He continues to be featured as a prominent speaker including at TU.
Other faculty members previously accused of sexual harassment include Jagadish Murti Koirala from TU, Bishnu Prasad Acharya from Ratna Rajya Campus, and Bodha Raj Tripathee from Lalitpur Madhyamik Vidhyalaya. A woman staff member from TU also filed a sexual abuse complaint against Dambar Chemjong from TU.
Prominent figures like <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-rise-and-fall-of-nims-purja">mountaineer Nims Purja</a> have been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/31/sports/mountaineering-sexual-harassment-abuse-nims-purja.html">accused of sexual assault</a>, and cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane, actor <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/celebrity-rape-case-spotlights-nepal-laws">Paul Shah</a>, and former speaker of Parliament <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mahara-arrested">Krishna Bahadur Mahara</a> have been accused of rape, but society-at-large has let off the alleged perpetrators amdist a larger debate about justice for survivors and punishment of perpetrators.&nbsp;
‘Gaushala-26’ is the court name given to the 18-year-old who accused Sandeep Lamichhane, former captain of Nepal’s national cricket team and skipper of Biratnagar Kings in the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/here-comes-the-nepal-premier-league">ongoing Nepal Premier League</a>, of rape. She left the country citing society questioning her character affecting her mental health while Lamichhane got an outpouring of support. In May, the Patan High Court overturned a prior verdict that found Lamichhane guilty of rape and had sentenced him to eight years in prison. During the 23-month legal battle to pursue justice, Gaushala-26 faced threats of gang rape and acid attacks.&nbsp;
Exhausted by the struggle, Gaushala-26 sought to “move to a new world” where she could live free without hiding her identity.
Actress Samragyee Rajya Laxmi Shah in an Instagram video now deleted detailed the harassment she faced from a filmmaker during a movie shoot. She did not name any name but veteran actor Bhuwan KC filed a defamation case against Rana, but the court ruled that the charge lacked sufficient evidence.&nbsp;
Former Kathmandu mayor <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/theytoo">Keshav Sthapit also mocked the #MeToo movement</a>, calling accusations against him by journalists Rashmila Prajapati and Ujjwala Maharjan “a rape of men’s rights”.
Serial Abuse
Back at the Kalapremi Ceramics studio, another former student, 24-year-old Rajiv, says he felt the need to speak out after seeing his female classmates being abused.&nbsp;
“He frequently kissed them on their cheeks,” he told Nepali Times. “Whenever they walked into the studio he flailed his arms like a child asking for a hug. They awkwardly hugged him from the side, but he pulled them closer, held their chin, and kissed their cheeks.”&nbsp;
Rajiv says he also saw Kalapremi pull the women’s bra straps, touch their breasts, and slap their buttocks. The young students would freeze, not knowing how to react, and if they protested, he would say it was “normal in art”. Rajiv, 19 at the time like his classmates, remembers thinking perhaps the well-respected artist was right after all.
Another student, Luna, who took lessons at Kalapremi’s studio from 2020 to 2022 did try to confront the tutor after he made an obscene proposal to her. She recalls: “One day when the other students had left the studio and it was just the two of us, he told me that God had given him special artistic talent and he could transfer those powers to me. But to do that both of us will have to be naked, inside a dark room, and have sex.”
Luna, who was 18 then, was livid and told him she did not want any of his powers, but she says he laughed at her as if he was joking. She did not tell her family about the incident because she thought no one would believe her.&nbsp;
“They were all in awe of this famous artist and felt I should be grateful that to be learning sculpting from him,” she says. “I was scared to be alone with him in case he talked about sex again. My coping mechanism was to be rude so he wouldn’t try to come close to me.”
Seeing how some classmates were standing up to Kalapremi, Ekta too tried to push back against his advances, but she said he found ways to coerce her. Since Ekta, Rajiv, and Luna could not afford Kalapremi’s Rs30,000 monthly fee for lessons, he had offered them all a stipend to assist him in the studio.
“He had spondylosis and took me to his therapy sessions to learn massage techniques, then he often made me and other students massage him,” says Ekta. Whenever she refused, he would feign pain to make her feel sorry for him. “He would insist that I put my hands under his shirt so that I could massage him better,” she adds.
The art tutor often tried to “seduce sympathy” from Ekta by sharing how he had never been loved as a child and was “sexually frustrated” as an adult.&nbsp;
“At 7PM, he would pour himself Signature whiskey and immediately go off again about how he was sex-starved. I didn’t know how to respond. It took me time to realise alcohol was just an excuse to talk about sex,” Ekta says.
If convicted, Kalapremi could face financial penalty and/or a prison sentence of up to three years according to Section 224 of National Penal (Code) Act 2017.&nbsp;
Data suggests that victims of child sexual abuse on average take nearly 24 years to tell someone about their trauma, and some may never disclose it at all.&nbsp;
“In our culture, children are rarely taught about boundaries. They often react, show anger when adults pinch their cheeks. But adults insist they did it out of love, and force the children to accept it,” says Sita Lama, a psychotherapist at Manka Kura. “And even when someone touches them inappropriately they struggle to identify and verbalise it.”
When perpetrators claim to be “acting out of love”, Lama says survivors are likely to perceive it as something safe, rather than recognising it as abuse.&nbsp;
“It may take years for them to realise they were abused,” she explains. "And even when they become aware, the power imbalance with the abuser and the associated shame often prevents survivors from speaking up."
Other former students from the School of Art at Kathmandu University have also come forward years later, saying Kalapremi sexually abused them. As young adults, they felt his behaviour was off but were uncertain if it was inappropriate, illegal, or they did not know how to respond. After having understood that it was indeed abuse, they say they are speaking out now to protect others.&nbsp;
Amina Singh, a visiting faculty member at Kathmandu University, says there is no clause against sexual abuse in contracts of teachers, and there is no formal grievance handling mechanism for the students.&nbsp;
“So the only way students can to deal with sexual abuse is approach someone they trust,” she says.
Eight other former art students of Lalit Kala Campus and Srijana College of Fine Arts of Tribhuvan University and other private art studios in Kathmandu say they were also sexually abused by their art teachers. Three faculty members interviewed from these institutions said they saw the abuse, but felt it was futile to report it given how powerful the teachers were.
In the absence of a formal system, some longtime women artists warned each other about “problematic” artists. They shared &nbsp;a “heads-up” to be more cautious when collaborating with them, and avoided responding to their calls and texts after work hours.
To ensure art institutions are safe for all, galleries, museums, artist studios, and smaller art spaces need to develop policies on sexual harassment. This would include a code of conduct or studio policies that hold the leadership accountable and outline the principles of professional ethics.&nbsp;
Students and employees should inquire about accountability mechanisms for raising concerns, both formally and informally, advocates say.
Three years after Ekta left the ceramics studio, she learnt that Kalapremi had harassed many other women. Still trying to get a footing in the art industry, she attended a workshop in Kathmandu where women artists discussed ways to stay safe in the art sector.&nbsp;
Since it was a close-knit group Ekta opened up about how she felt violated and realised she was not alone, he had been abusing underprivileged students for years, and this was common knowledge among artists in Nepal.
Ekta says that even after she quit, Kalapremi continued sending her text messages like ‘I am thinking of you’, ‘Why have you stopped speaking with me’, or ‘I am waiting for your call’.&nbsp;
But what really forced her to act was when Ekta found out that he was sending similar texts to her younger sister.&nbsp;
“I’ve had enough,” she told us. “He abused me all these years but I won’t let him abuse my sister.” &nbsp;
Ekta, Rajiv and Luna are not the real names of the students.&nbsp;

‘Art Lover’ accused of sexual abuse

It was 8:15 in the evening of 25 March 1968 when everyone in the village of Batulechaur near Pokhara heard a deafening sound like thunder as a bright flashing object hurtled down to land in a field.&nbsp; That field belonged to Kul Timilsina, and the next morning he retrieved a sheet of metal about 2m by 1m and carried it home with the help of a few others, thinking it would be useful for his buffalo shed.&nbsp; Before he died at age 83 three years ago, Timilsina had told photo archivist Sunil Ulak that the black metal sheet was not rectangular and had rounded corners. There are a few witnesses still alive who have a clear recollection of the object that fell from the sky that night.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024120707128_75cc85aac56b9cc4a77366471f058d7b3eb6868776811b0923845c2d0a61f014.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2024120707128_75cc85aac56b9cc4a77366471f058d7b3eb6868776811b0923845c2d0a61f014" data-rendition-name="original" width="1170" height="601" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>The field in Batulechaur belonging to Kul Timilsina where fragments of a flying object fell from the sky in 1968.</figcaption> </figure>  One of them is Timilsina’s wife Gyanu, who was 22 at the time. She had been at home, and remembers hearing the big bang and the sky becoming very bright. “We saw the thing in the field in the morning,” she told us. “It looked like a lid, a covering of some sort. The way it was stuck in the ground, it must have fallen from the sky. We thought we could use it to dry clothes on, and took it home.”&nbsp; Another witness is Kul Narayan Paudel. “I was only eight then. We ran to the field to see what had fallen. It was a four-sided metal sheet. The elders took it away, and I don't know what happened to it.” &nbsp; Ram Bahadur Baniya, a teacher at the local school, says he had heard the sheet had been brought to the school, and later handed over to the Zonal Commissioner at the time, Nanda Prasad Malla. “But that is all hearsay,” he says.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024120707128_0bf207a12063fb8155b3c8d9a00a94887b126380c9e0627527c84cf5e1101f54.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024120707128_0bf207a12063fb8155b3c8d9a00a94887b126380c9e0627527c84cf5e1101f54" data-rendition-name="original" width="1170" height="610" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>Gyanu Timilsina, wife of Kul Timilsina.</figcaption> </figure>  There are two versions of what happened to Kul Timilsina’s metal sheet. One is that an American Peace Corp Volunteer teaching at the nearby Bindyabasini School took it, and another is that it was handed over to the government. Recently declassified Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and US State Department documents from the time say that the US Embassy in Kathmandu tracked down the object two years later and had it shipped back to the US. A telegram from the Department of State and Department of Defense tagged as ‘MOON DUST / Space Fragments’ dated 1 March 1972 stated: ‘1. Restored space fragment will be on board Embassy support flight 115 arriving Kathmandu on or about March 10. Fragment is packed in shipping crate (cargo no. 72-33365) marked in care of DAO.&nbsp; 2. State and Defense representatives examined fragments prior to shipment finding restoration acceptable.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071212_929d903ee06d41baa4f6040e981cd7c7d7bd75cc9c37c9b617d307fc8538d2df.png" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241207071212_929d903ee06d41baa4f6040e981cd7c7d7bd75cc9c37c9b617d307fc8538d2df" data-rendition-name="original" width="856" height="568" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>Declassified CIA documents about the investigation into the object sighted in Pokhara. </figcaption> </figure>  The documents show that the US government, military and intelligence agencies investigated this incident thoroughly when it occurred, and have continued to revisit it ever since, as recently as five years ago. What is even more intriguing is that the object that fell in Pokhara was not the only unidentified space object that fell to earth that year. There were similar sightings of objects falling from the sky in Ladakh, Sikkim and Bhutan between 19 February and 25 March 1968.&nbsp; These mysteries were the subject of a CIA investigation in 1968 titled ‘<a href="https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP81R00560R000100070007-8.pdf">Sighting of Unidentified Flying Objects in Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan</a>’, and the report is part of the recent online declassification of 800,000 top-secret documents from the period.&nbsp; &nbsp;Although unidentified flying objects (UFOs) have a connotation now of being alien craft, it could be pieces of satellite, missile, rocket or even aircraft. The CIA report documents six sightings in 1968 and quotes local sources as describing all of them having similar characteristics: bright blue or red streaks in the sky accompanied by loud sounds like lightning and thunder and objects falling to the ground. Aside from the metallic object that was found in Batlechaur, there were other items also found nearby in Tallakot, Tureypasal, Armalakot and Maidan. Whatever the object was, it seems to have disintegrated even before it hit the ground.&nbsp; The CIA report records the first sighting on 19 February 1968 in various parts of Sikkim and Olangchung Gola and Ghunsa in eastern Nepal. The light was said to be ‘long and thin’ and giving out ‘green and red light’. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071212_c3c825027d966a2aedc846970390eebe063957503c7eacc8e01e0517843f9bbb.png" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20241207071212_c3c825027d966a2aedc846970390eebe063957503c7eacc8e01e0517843f9bbb" data-rendition-name="original" width="892" height="596" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara "> </figure>  Two days later on 21 February, a soundless blue object was seen traveling fast across the sky above Thimphu in Bhutan. Then on 4 March there were multiple daytime sightings or white streaks in the sky at Chang La Pass, Fukche and Koyul in Ladakh. There were more sightings in Ladakh on the very day fragments fell near Pokhara on 25 March 1968.&nbsp; After the sightings in Pokhara, rumours started flying in Kathmandu that these were aliens trying to land on Earth, it could be Russian or Chinese spy planes or satellites, and some even say it as a sign from heaven that the end of the world was near. This was at the height of the Cold War. The Russians and Americans were testing their thermonuclear devices as well as intercontinental ballistic missile delivery systems. The Washington-Beijing rapprochement had not yet happened, and China was making quick progress testing atomic bombs. Within two years after its first atomic test, in 1966 China exploded its first hydrogen bomb at the Lop Nur site in Xinjiang, 3,000km to the north from Nepal. After neary six decades, what is still intriguing is that all the sightings within a few months of each other in 1968 were along the Himalayan arc bordering Tibet: from Bhutan, Sikkim Nepal, to Ladakh. The US military intelligence seems to have concluded that this was not a coincidence and there were frequent research trips to the site in Pokhara by American officials in the months after the incident. With the help of the Royal Nepal Army, the region north of Pokhara was thoroughly searched.&nbsp; A confidential memo dated 25 June 1968 by Jerry C Trippy to a ‘Mr Farley’ mentions that the US Air Force’s Foreign Technology Division had decided that the debris could be important because it may be related to a Chinese missile test or a Soviet ‘Vehicle Venik’ rocket.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071216_feb5425692dc36b20187de4e4fcc2ce9fd12b6d9e1b8724398e50bcdbf9032fe.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20241207071216_feb5425692dc36b20187de4e4fcc2ce9fd12b6d9e1b8724398e50bcdbf9032fe" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> </figure>  On 28 August 1968 the US Embassy in Kathmandu sent a letter to Washington DC saying that the object could be of Soviet origin, possibly from when the rocket carrying the ‘Kosmos 208’ satellite re-entered the atmosphere. But why were the fragments falling to earth several weeks apart, and in the same region? No one knows where the metal sheet that Kul Timilsina recovered is now. It was definitely packed in a crate and taken to the US, and although it is rumoured that it was returned that is not very likely. Archivist Sunil Ulak heard from the Timilsina family that CIA officials had returned to the site five years ago. &nbsp; Interest in UFOs peaked in the US in the 1950s, with the Cold War space race and tests of atomic weapons and delivery rockets. CIA and scientists were being sent to investigate sightings, both publicly and privately. Could the Pokhara fragments as well as the sightings in Ladakh and Bhutan actually be alien craft falling to earth? The renewal in interest in space travel in large part due to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, UFOs and sightings are again subjects of public interest.&nbsp; Even 57 years later, even if there was definitive proof about whether the Batlechaur fragment was from a Chinese missile or a soviet rocket, it has not been made public in documents declassified so far. We may never know.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071216_b6938795f40731e7657fd6dcbb3cf460a326186a15eb11d4f832f602201ff598.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20241207071216_b6938795f40731e7657fd6dcbb3cf460a326186a15eb11d4f832f602201ff598" data-rendition-name="original" width="642" height="320" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> </figure>  Sunil Ulak speculates if the debris actually came from an American aircraft, perhaps on an intel mission upon China. “Which could explain why they were so thorough in collecting the fragments in Pokhara,” he says. But that still does not explain the multiple sightings weeks apart in 1968.&nbsp; Indeed, US military aircraft were at that time flying frequent night-time missions from air force bases in India to supply weapons to Khampa guerrilla camps in Nepal located north of Pokhara in Mustang. It could very well be that the Chinese shot down one such aircraft. The other sightings could have been contrails of US spy planes, or Chinese anti-aircraft missiles.&nbsp; There were quite a few developments regarding UFOs in 2024. In a US congressional hearing in July, former intelligence officer David Grusch claimed that the government had long been involved in a program to investigate and retrieve non-human craft crashes, and then try to reverse engineer them. However Grusch did not show any evidence.&nbsp; The UAP Disclosure Act of 2024 was signed into law by Joe Biden in December 2023. It plans to oversee the public disclosure of UFO information. However, there is a clause in it that prevents disclosure if it would cause threats to military defense, intelligence operations or foreign relations.&nbsp; It is unlikely that the declassified documents about sightings in the Himalayan will cause any real surprise about definite evidence of alien life even if it was found. It seems humanity will continue, at least for now, to wonder about curious lights in the sky and whether there is anybody out there.&nbsp;

UFO over Pokhara

When Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) president Rabi Lamichhane was arrested in October on charges of defrauding depositors of cooperatives, the party’s vice president Swarnim Wagle gifted him Fareed Zakaria’s book, Age of Revolutions.
Since then, Lamichhane has been shunted around from Kathmandu to Pokhara to Chitwan and back to Pokhara to attend police investigations and court proceedings. He was being flown to Birganj via Kathmandu on Buddha Air on Monday. There is another pending case in Janakpur.
Human rights groups and civil society have criticised the government for hounding Lamichhane with inhumane treatment that borders on physical torture. The two parties in the coalition, Nepali Congress (NC) and the UML, see Lamichhane’s RSP as a potentially formidable challenge to their power.
Even if the fraud charges against Lamichhane are true, the Nepali public is increasingly looking at the government’s actions through the police and courts as political vendetta.
Despite all the travelling, sometimes by plane and often by road at night, Lamichhane appears to be in high spirits, waving to supporters who often gather if they know he is going to be driven around. A social media video shows him giving high fives to fellow passengers on a recent flight to Pokhara.&nbsp;
In the past weeks, streets in Pokhara have erupted with parallel protests by Lamichhane’s supporters as well as depositors of cooperatives who lost their savings to the scam.&nbsp;
Although family visits are allowed, prison officials in Pokhara told Nepali Times that not many people visit Lamichhane these days. He added, “When he does get visitors, he asks them to bring him books.”
Lamichhane is currently Nepal’s most high-profile public figure in custody, and highlights the stark difference between how influential prisoners are treated compared to ordinary inmates.
There are six prison cells at Kaski District Police Office’s two-story detention centre, three on each floor. And while authorities pack prisoners into already overcrowded cells, Lamichhane has an entire room on the second floor to himself.&nbsp;
He has also been allowed to call his family every few days. Other prisoners are not permitted phone calls except for emergencies.
Meanwhile, Lamichhane’s former business partner Chhabilal Joshi, an ex-Deputy Inspector General of Police with whom he established his Gorkha Media Network, is in custody under the same charges in the prison cell next to him.
Lamichhane is accused of siphoning off depositors' money to the tv network in which he was part-owner and anchor. &nbsp;
Both Lamichhane and Joshi are able to buy food from the police canteen instead of being served the regular meal like other prisoners. Joshi has also given his statement to authorities in Rupandehi and Kathmandu for his alleged role in the scam. Lamichhane is yet to be presented in Kathmandu for questioning.
While he was in custody at the Kathmandu District Police Complex, Joshi expressed his desire to sleep in a police officer’s office, reportedly assuring authorities that he would not run away and he was entitled to certain facilities as a former officer of the law.
“He seemed to be under the impression that he is still a police officer,” says a source at the Kathmandu District Police. “We made it clear to him that as someone accused of a crime, he was not entitled to special treatment.”
Former ministers Balkrishna Khand and Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, and ex-home secretary Tek Narayan Pandey, who were arrested in connection with the fake refugee scam last year, were similarly housed in the offices of law enforcement officials instead of prison cells. Khand has since been released after six months in jail.
While there is no legal provision to keep high-ranking officials in separate detention centres when they are arrested, authorities granting them special facilities is not uncommon. Law enforcement officials say VIP detainees expect preferential treatment while in police custody.
Among those is former Kosi Province minister Lila Ballav Adhikari, who was arrested from Biratnagar on 10 November over his alleged involvement in human trafficking and brought to Kathmandu. Adhikari had flown to Japan without government approval with three individuals on 29 October to attend a cultural conference, but had been sent back to Nepal from Narita.&nbsp;
His three companions were arrested at Kathmandu airport upon their arrival, but Adhikari was able to exit unscathed from the VIP lounge. Adhikari had resigned as the Kosi Province Minister for Internal Affairs and Law when it became public that his companions had been taken into custody, and was himself arrested shortly after. He has since been cleared by the courts.
Throughout his detention, Adhikari was kept separately from other inmates. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Basant Rajouri, head of the Bhadrakali complex, says that while there is no separate detention area for VIPs, some detainees are kept separately depending on the nature of their crime.
However, sources say that arrangements were made for retired judges and others to visit Adhikari frequently worked at the office of a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) during his time in custody.&nbsp;
“He used to constantly pester the authorities to let him sit outside in the sun, and to be able to use the police officer’s shower area,” added an officer.
Adhikari was released on 25 November after the government prosecutor’s office decided not to charge him in a move that was seen to expose the government’s double standards.
Over at Kathmandu’s Dilli Bazar Prison, former Kist Bank CEO Kamal Gyawali emerges from his prison cell into the courtyard of the prison’s ‘Ka (क)’ block every morning with a thick book in his hands, ready to give his daily sermon.
With his long beard, Gyawali, who is serving a prison sentence for banking fraud, looks the part of a religious guru as he implores his rapt listeners to “walk the right path, abandon bad thoughts and turn to scripture and spirituality”.&nbsp;
Afterward, the attendees gather to discuss politics and current affairs. Inmates at his daily sermons at the prison include other high-profile detainees, including former MP Ichchha Raj Tamang, who is in jail for money laundering and cooperatives fraud, former joint secretary Chudamani Sharma, who was convicted of corruption, as well as NC leader Chandra Bahadur Lama and Krishna Bahadur Upreti of the UML both of whom are on trial for embezzling billions of rupees.
Victims of the cooperatives scam that former lawmaker Tamang was involved in have made trips to the prison and requested visits, but he has refused to meet with any of them.
“Tamang often complains that the state has prevented him from returning the money to the victims by locking him up,” says a police officer at the Dili Bazar jail.
“All you hear every day from the VIP prisoners is that they have been framed,” adds the officer. “No one admits that they were involved in misdeeds.”
But while most high-profile prisoners complain about prison conditions, one exception is former provincial lawmaker Deepak Manange, who is serving a sentence at Dilli Bazar Jail for attempted murder.
“He is the happiest prisoner here,” says a warden. “Unlike the others, he doesn’t claim to have been framed, in fact he doesn’t seem to care that he is in prison.”
Manange is detained in the ‘Kha (ख)’ block of the prison complex, which he renovated at his own expense. The block previously housed female prisoners, but Manange used his influence to transfer them elsewhere. He faces no shortage of visitors, who range from political leaders to people from the underworld.
Along with Manange, other well-known prisoners in this block include Nepal Telecom Managing Director Sunil Poudel, and former executive director of the Surakshan Printing Centre Bikal Poudel, who are serving time for corruption.
Former prisoners at Dilli Bazar prison include ex-ministers Khum Bahadur Khadka and Shyam Sundar Gupta, NC leader Ganesh Lama, Maoist MP Balkrishna Dhungel, Nagarik Unmukti Party leader Resham Chaudhary, as well as former IGs Ramesh Chand Thakuri, Om Bikram Rana, and Hem Bahadur Gurung.
Section 54 of Nepal’s Prison Act assigns each prison’s internal administration the
responsibility of governing its prisoners, which means the more favourable the jail management is, the more comfortable it is for prisoners.
Dilli Bazar prison has been the prison of choice for many high-ranking prisoners, especially those convicted of white collar crimes, due to its more accommodating administrators. The prison, which has the capacity to house 700 inmates, is also less crowded than other jails.
Anuj Bhattarai, spokesperson of the Department of Prison Management, says that there is no legal classification in Nepal for felons to be assigned prisons based on the nature of their crimes.
“That Dilli Bazar Jail has a higher number of prisoners convicted of crimes like corruption is most likely a coincidence,” says Bhattarai. “There is no provision for influential people to be able to choose where they will be incarcerated.”&nbsp;
Translated by Shristi Karki from the Nepali original published in himalkhabar.com

What Nepal’s VIP prisoners do in jail

If you were raised in Nepal, you must have picked up its unique set of vocabulary: आन्दोलन, चक्का जाम, बन्द, राँके जुलुस, आफ्नो मान्छे, हाम्रो दल, कर्फु and many more words connoting political protest.
We became familiar with the acrid smell of burning tyres, and eyes smarting from tear gas. And yet, everyone speaks of another revolution in the making. Not by desire, but by suffocation.
We heard speeches about नयाँ नेपाल, but the New Nepal never arrived. The governance system changed, but it did not reflect on people’s lives — except for those close to centres of power. The state is still unreachable and is not bothered about <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/matter-of-life-and-debt">victims of loan sharks</a>, cooperative scams and other injustices.
Politicians continue to speak in sound bites, but fail to deliver. They have mastered the game of pointing fingers towards an external enemy and convincing people that they are never at fault. The political narrative is so disconnected from the actual analysis of the problem that suffocation doesn’t go away after every revolution.
No genuine effort has been made to deliver at all, which is why there is a palpable sense of disillusionment in the air forcing us to seek another revolution, even if Nepal may not be able to afford it.
How has the current system successfully held power, even if the public is deeply frustrated? How is it that for three decades we continue to be led by the same faces, who have time and again, proved to us that they may be great politicians but not national leaders?
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/improving-internet-governance-in-nepal">My experience at the epicentre of politics</a> has led me to identify three cultures that have enabled political parties to keep a tight hold on power: acceptance, silence and dependency.
We accept things the way they are. We use fatalistic phrases like “नेपालमा यस्तै हो” or “नेपालको कानुन दैब जानुन”. While this resilience enables us to rise back up from devastating calamities, it is also a reason for our compliance with the status quo.
Despite so many ‘revolutions’ that have led to significant reforms, these phrases keep getting reinforced, to the point that the upcoming generations have made it their lingo.&nbsp;
This acceptance is not a symbol of law-abiding citizens, but citizens living in fear of those in power, unable to ask the whys and why-nots.
Innovation suffocates in this culture of acceptance of the status quo. This is manifested in remarks like “but we don’t have any laws for this,” or “we don’t have the capacity to implement this”. An innovator or entrepreneur therefore has to spend that energy to become a political lobbyist, often educating and convincing the bureaucracy.&nbsp;
Remember when locally assembled <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/designed-and-made-in-nepal">Yatri motorbikes</a>, despite having willing customers, had to suffer to secure license numbers because of a lack of regulations? Instead of creating new laws, the government kept chanting the “We will promote Nepal-made goods” mantra, leaving entrepreneurs in a labyrinth of bureaucracy. The weight of acceptance of the law lies heavily on innovators. Fatalism is a tactic used by those in power to generate mass fear in society.
When we accept, we become silent. This is a pervasive phenomenon. We are trained to keep quiet, lest we ruffle feathers, burn bridges, or not get the help we need in future. We know, yet we don’t speak.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/bureaucratic-hurdles-in-researching-nepals-bureaucracy">Bureaucratic hurdles in researching Nepal's bureaucracy</a>, Daniel W Edwards
Here is one example: the 2021 census shows that the number of baby boys born for every 100 baby girls is 112. This is a clear indication of female foeticide because of boy preference in society.
Despite such horrifying realities, there is finger-pointing within the government between the Ministry of Health and Population with the Ministry of Home Affairs. At the citizen level, we know those who are involved in killing girls. Yet, we don’t speak up. The Nepal Medical Council reports state that despite this gender imbalance at birth, there is no indication of any action.
But why would anyone speak against one's own fraternity, no matter how vile the act is?
When we accept and keep quiet, we become dependent on those who yield power. From getting our government procedure completed on time to getting transfers, to accessing any of our legally protected rights as well, we are forced to depend on our networks of चिनेको मान्छे people we know by blood, village, relations, political affiliation.
The culture of dependency has been the established way in Nepal. If you drive a two-wheeler or four-wheeler, and you get into a small accident, you will be asked to sort it yourself, dialing up the most powerful person you know. It becomes a competition of who knows who.
Recently I was told that there were calls from the Ministry of Health and Population and another from the Prime Minister's Office for just one medical position in a private hospital. Each was pushing its own candidate. Guess which candidate got the position.&nbsp;
The dependency of people is not on the laws or the state, it is with people in power, a reliance on the network of somebody who knows somebody, including those not officially in power.
These cultures are deeply ingrained in our heads, and in society. Collectively they form a vicious circle that helps those in power to retain power. This is not the society we want to live in.
Then, what do we do as a collective to break away from this? How do we break away from the cultures of acceptance and silence that have created this dependency? What can we do to ensure that our children do not have to learn the jargon of आन्दोलन before they learn about the state?
These are the cultures political parties need to shed rather than use them to perpetuate their power. This is what <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/an-alternative-to-alternative-politics-in-nepal">alternative politics</a> needs to be about.
Sumana Shrestha is a member of Parliament’s Education, Health and Information Technology parliamentary committee and represents the Rastriya Swatantara Party.

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