<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111156/636cd8e69c7e80680e092e6ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>All photos: ROSE SCHWIETZ</figcaption></figure>When a woman carries herself around in the streets or even at her workplace or her home, she is constantly hounded by the anxiety of protecting herself. The fear for safety has been heightened with the series of cases of rape reported over the years, not to mention impunity of the assailants.Actors’ Studio’s performance of Rapemachine offered a final sobering note at Fine Print Fever Literature Festival at the Unnati Cultural Village last week.Directed by Suraj Malla, the play is stirred by the rape and murder of Nirmala Panta. It begins with three women in white kurta onstage, gazing silently outward. Suddenly, three men appear from the audience, stalk through the crowd, and shine flashlights at their faces.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111156/636cd8e99c7e80680e092e6bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">The women begin a movement sequence representing youth, learning, and beauty, presenting  a repeat of their innocence, over and over. Ranjana Bhattarai plays hopscotch, Hena Nagarkoti practices her alphabet, while Anu Dahal admires herself in a mirror.The men join the sequence, bringing actions of machinery, brute force, and vice: Suraj Malla operates a large vehicle. Pranav ­­­­­­­­­­­­KC digs piles of dirt, and Aashish Shrestha blows cigarette smoke at the audience. This codified mirror of society recycles itself until someone discovers an abandoned shoe – evidence of an assault.The individual characters become a village chorus and shout in unison: “छोटो छोटो लुगा लाएपछि यस्तै हुन्छ, यस्तै हुन्छ”, this is what happens when you wear short skirts. Accusations abound, but mirroring a real society, everyone returns to their individual cyclical actions— we protest, investigate, and accuse, then we return to ‘normal’.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111156/636cd8ec9c7e80680e092e6cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">Rapemachine pushes this idea further. When the performers settle into their repetitive actions, another piece of clothing is found. Another. And another. Each time, the onstage society reacts with accusations, and each time they attempt to return to normal.The repetitive actions lull the audience into uncomfortable resignation: What can be done when the cycle seems bound to repeat itself indefinitely?Rather than offer solutions, Rapemachine emphasises that lack of action leads to continued devolvement. The male characters become a team of senseless monsters, cleverly staging violence that represents rape and murder to the audience.Effective use of items like tika vermillion powder, lollipops, and confetti, create a sense of affinity and loss we experience when reading about Nirmala’s case. Although it is clearly symbolic, watching the violence unfold leaves the audience in pin-drop, the silence speaking volumes about the impact.What the performance lacks in solutions, it makes up for in conversation opportunities. The performers’ intensity and vulnerability – particularly the women’s – leaves the audience in shock, stirring them towards dialogue. With sexual violence and victim-blaming in every corner of our world, these artistic conversations continue to be necessary.The Fine Print Fever Literature Festival was held at the Unnati Cultural Village on 12-13 March in Nawalparasi. The event, hosted by the Chaudhary Group stirred conversations around Nepal’s culture and art.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111156/636cd8ee9c7e80680e092e6djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="960"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111156/636cd8f19c7e80680e092e6ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="960">The FinePrint Fever Festival also featured conversations around books, with Amar Neupane, Asim Sagar, and political conversations with the likes of Gagan Thapa, Rabindra Mishra. Actors Rajesh Hamal and Manisha Koirala were crowd pullers, with Koirala discussing Jijibisa, a translation of her book Healed, which maps her life’s journey as she batted and beat cancer.The authors gave well-attended talks about their work and relevant life experiences. The event also provided space for conversation with Niranjan Kunwar of Between Queens and the Cities, fame, a frank discussion of LGBTQ+ experiences, a pressing but under-discussed current issue.Unnati Cultural Village is a Chaudhary Foundation initiative, which has been captioned as ‘the prospect of the multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and diverse geography of Nepal’. The venue is a resort-cum-art center, featuring low-hanging mango trees and meandering footpaths.The design, inspired by Tharu architecture, motifs, and sketches, crafted by the expert hands of local Tharu artisans Nanu Maya Mahato, Khem Kumari Mahato, Sundar Kumari Chaudhary and Durga Mahato. Ceramicist, Gopal Kalapremi, also provided training to local artists under a community initiative at the centre.The venue is also home to a Craft Museum and an artifact museum called Sampada Art Gallery, featuring contemporary Nepali artists, Rangmanch Amphitheatre, an open-air performance space and Atelier, artist studio spaces.Anusuya Gurung, one of the curators of the craft museum describes the centre as an educational opportunity to showcase the historical evolution of Nepal through craft and artisans. The museum begins with mythological references, and the times when craft existed as utility for agriculture, weaponry and ritual.It then moves into the medieval age, when craft transitions into art and architecture, with evidence of new materials like stone and metal. The third section shows modern and contemporary artifacts, and like the present time, is a ‘living work-in-progress’ with contemporary art pieces from pioneers in their artistry.

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New venue showcasing Nepali society, literature and art

<figure><img width="1280" height="960" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101136/636a237c9c7e80680e0417eejpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Dharna at Mahendranagar in front of CDO office, Nirmala Panta's step-mother, Laxmi, at center.</figcaption></figure>Six months after the unsolved rape and murder of her daughter, the stress is beginning to show on Durga Devi Panta. Her face is taut, her wrinkles deeper, but there is the fire of determination in her eyes.As protests over the crime escalated last year, Durga Devi’s estranged husband Yagya Raj, his second wife and their son have also joined the campaign for justice, raising some eyebrows. Yagya Raj has shown signs of  psychological instability, and Durga Devi said he nearly strangled her recently.Laxmi and Yagya Raj, ostensibly under pressure from the opposition Nepali Congress, do not want Durga Devi to accept the compensation of Rs1 million from the Central Government and Rs500,000 from Province 7. Durga Devi herself does not want to be tangled in the politics, and says the compensation money would at least help her take care of her two daughters.Laxmi and Yagya Raj say they do not want Durga Devi to take the compensation for Nirmala’s death since they do not want it to affect the fast-unto-death by Govinda KC, since one of his demands is justice for Nirmala. Women’s groups and homemakers from all class and backgrounds campaigning for the case in Dhangadi, Kailali and Mahendranagar last week shared their frustration with the police's inability to solve the crime. The protests has also become politically polarised, with the opposition NC and other parties using it to embarrass the NCP government.Read also: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; letter-spacing: 0.15px;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/daughters-rape-drives-father-to-insanity/">Daughter’s rape drives father to insanity</a>, Sewa Bhattarai <figure><img width="1280" height="957" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101136/636a23809c7e80680e0417efjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure> Nirmala was a studious 14-year-old and the second of Durga Devi’s three teenage daughters. After her husband left her for another woman 12 years ago, the four lived in a simple house amidst fields on the outskirts of Mahendranagar in Kanchanpur.The crime has become a national issue because of Police bungling the investigation, and not being able to find the guilty. It has become the focus of country-wide protests by human rights activists, was featured in the international media and has now even got a Wikipedia entry.   “My daughter is gone, but I want justice for her, and also my remaining two daughters to have a safe and good life,” says Durga Devi with a faraway look.Nirmala Panta had joined a study group in the house of her class mate Roshani Bam after school on 26 July last year. When Nirmala did not return home, Durga Devi had become frantic, and went to Roshani’s house to look for her daughter. Her body was found the next day 500m from Roshani Bam’s house in a sugarcane field owned by police inspector Jagdish Bhatta, who has now been suspended for tampering with evidence.Read also<a style="background-color: #ffffff; letter-spacing: 0.15px;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/justice-delayed-and-denied/">: Justice delayed and denied</a>, Sewa Bhattarai Province 7 Chief Minister Trilochan Bhatta denied that Police had destroyed evidence. He told Nepali Times: “All the evidence, including the vaginal swab of the victim, are safe with us. It will take time but we will crack this case soon in coordination with the Centre.”Meanwhile, the Women Human Right Defenders of Kanchanpur and Kailali districts with other activists and independent women’s groups are continuing with their relay hunger strike at the Chief District Office in Kanchanpur.  Sitting under the tent last week was Nirmala’s step-mother Laxmi Panta with activists from Kathmandu, including Sabitri Subedi, who staged the ‘petticoat campaign’ in Kathmandu. There is much mutual suspicion even among the activists groups and muttering about each others’ motivations. “Nirmala’s case is now so muddled that we do not know what will happen to the investigation,” says Nirmala Bagchan of the Women Human Right Defenders. Sabitri Ghimire of the Dalit Women’s Right Forum in Kailali accuses the Police of deliberately destroying all evidence to protect powerful interests.The rights groups appeared to be fatigued by infighting and frustrated by the lack of progress in the investigation. Conspiracy theories swirled about a cover-up by senior officials of the provincial government and Police officers allegedly involved in the crime. Why else would the Police destroy evidence, delay the investigation, frame an innocent man, detain the Bam sisters then take them to Kathmandu, and now ask the father and mother to provide DNA samples?Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/four-fold-increase-in-reported-rape-in-10-years/">Four-fold increase in reported rape in 10 years</a>, Sewa BhattaraiSuperintendent of Police Kuber Khadayat claimed there had been eight cases of rape and five of attempted rape since the Nirmala case, and all have been solved. He said Nirmala’s case happened before he assumed office, and exuded confidence that it would be solved “soon”.The infighting among activists and the politicisation of the human rights groups helps the government, which can now blame “politics” for its failure to find the culprit. However, the real victims here are Nirmala’s mother and sisters who need the truth and justice.Namrata Sharma is the Chair of the Centre for Investigative Journalism Nepal.

Crime and politics

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171152/636937c29c7e80680e03fe5ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="793"/>After ten years of blood and 12 years of trying to come to terms with why it was shed, Nepalis had great hopes for 2018.Last year this time, there was a sense of achievement and optimism. The first <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/the-election-fever-federal-and-parliamentary-election,3982" target="_blank" rel="noopener">elections for three levels of government</a> under the new Federal Constitution had been held. The UML <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/show-stopper-headline,4101" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Maoist alliance swept the elections</a>, and the expected unification of the two <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/a-two-party-state,3968" target="_blank" rel="noopener">parties</a> was supposed to mark the end of unstable coalition politics, and finally deliver development. We had a straight-shooting <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/oli-here-for-good/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">can-do prime minister</a>, who despite failing health, had shown gumption and promise during campaigning.One year later, much of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/let-a-thousand-flowers-bloom/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">euphoria has evaporated</a>. The past year has been one of missed opportunities, miscues, inaction and blatant blunders. Two months after the election results became clear, the lameduck Nepali Congress prime minister finally stepped down and the two communist alpha males K P Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal decided to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/one-body-two-heads/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">co-chair their united party</a>, and rotate the prime ministership.Formal party unification took another month. Still, there was hope that Oli would hit the ground running, even if it was through showcase development, cleaning up the roads of the capital and launching major projects.Alas. It may have been unrealistic of us to expect the same septuagenarians from the same parties to suddenly govern with accountability and efficiency. The Nepali people did not expect much, so they were not surprised to see no improvement in their lives. The roads were still dug up, the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/public-transport-syndicate,3531" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bus syndicates</a> that Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa promised to eradicate were still around, tanker operators were still striking for the right to steal oil, the culprits who absconded with 33 kg of smuggled gold were never caught, nor those responsible for the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/justice-for-sale/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rape-murder of Nirmala Panta in Kanchanpur</a>.There were some bright spots, and these were mostly in sectors led by efficient and relatively young former UML ministers in the Cabinet like <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/does-nepal-need-a-4th-international-airport/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rabindra Adhikari</a> (Tourism), <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/win-win-migration/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gokarna Bista</a> (Labour) or <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/calendar-of-economic-change/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yubaraj Khatiwada</a> (Finance). But even they are finding it difficult within their ministries to get the wheels of government to turn.The rent-seeking state is so habituated to extortion and extraction that Bista has run into a wall in implementing his ground-breaking accord with the new regime in Malaysia to remove <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/kleptocrats-of-kathmandu-and-kualalampur/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">exploitation and costs for Nepali migrant workers</a>. Adhikari, despite all his efforts, cannot go beyond cosmetic improvements at Kathmandu airport. Khatiwada’s valiant efforts at fiscal discipline and capital spending are not yielding results, and this has resulted in a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/banking-on-a-course-correction/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">liquidity crisis that threatens the banking sector</a>.If that is how honest politicians are prevented from delivering, one can imagine what is happening in the ones led by corrupt and ruthless ministers lining their pockets as if there was no tomorrow. The sordid list of impunity and abuse of authority is long and makes for thoroughly depressing reading every morning: ambassadors on the take from traffickers, justices who hurriedly clear criminals ahead of their imminent retirement, absconding multiple-murderers appearing on stage with the CDO and police, and a ministerial secretary demanding a Rs250 million bribe to release funds for the much-delayed Melamchi water project.What is worse is that the public is now so cynical about officials plundering the state that these investigative reports do not even raise eyebrows anymore. Media exposes cause a brief flutter before society shrugs, and moves on.We hoped to be able to wish our readers a happy new year 2019. But Nepal and Nepalis will probably just muddle through another 52 weeks.

A year wasted

<figure><img width="1333" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171136/636934969c7e80680e03e004jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>When Durga Devi Panta poured her husband some water, he thanked her like she was a stranger, shook hands with her and asked the reporter to take a photo. Photo: Sewa Bhattarai</figcaption></figure>Nepal was shocked by the rape and murder of Nirmala Panta in Kanchanpur on 26 July, but with the crime unsolved and the perpetrators still at large the news has faded from the headlines. However, Nirmala's parents have been taking part in a sit-in outside the Kanchanpur District Headquarters here in Mahendranagar. Two weeks into the protest, Nirmala's father Yagya Raj Panta started showing signs that the strain was taking its toll on his mental health.On Saturday morning, Yagya Raj was showing increasingly erratic behaviour and the family decided to take him to Kathmandu for treatment, with the help of the government. His wife Durga Devi Panta and other relatives managed to take him to Dhangadi airport, but he was too aggressive and could not be pacified to board the plane. 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/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“His behaviour became quite aggressive, he started abusing people and vandalising the place, the airline refused to let him board,” said Sharada Chand, who was among the human rights activists with him. Chand was herself hurt when Yagya Raj started acting violent at the airport. His wife Durga Devi and some relatives then set off for Kathmandu by road with him. On the morning of 24 November, Yagya Raj Panta was jumping at noises, shooing away visitors, and he looked very agitated. He was aggressive towards strangers, pointing at bags and asking if there were bombs in them, claiming there was a conspiracy to murder him. Activists tried to pacify him, and when Durga Devi Panta poured her husband some water from a thermos flask he thanked her like she was a stranger, shook hands with her and asked people around him to take a photo. Exactly 117 days after his daughter was raped and murdered, it is clear that Yagya Raj Panta had lost his mind. He not only tried to take off his clothes, but also beat and scratched people who came near him and some of them needed to have their hands bandaged. The videos people have taken of him have gone viral on social media. Nirmala Panta went missing on July 26, and her body was found thrown in a sugarcane field near her home. The inability of the Police and the Home Ministry to resolve the issue, their attempt to destroy evidence, frame an innocent person with the crime and what looked to many like a case of the Police trying to protect the criminals, has outraged her family and human rights activists. They said the mental strain was too much to bear for Yagya Raj Panta, and he snapped. The deceased Nirmala's family members are increasingly concerned that they are losing not just one but two persons to this tragedy. Yagya Raj’s sister Bhagirathi Bhatta says she has lost hope for her brother: “My niece is already dead and gone, but my brother is alive. I doubt if we will still have him, if this stress continues." She has also been spending the cold nights at the sit-in in an open tent across the road from the District Headquarter building. There are some pillows, mattresses, blankets, and an electric line from which to charge mobiles and heat up water in kettles, and not much else. Photos of the deceased Nirmala line the ceiling, walls and surroundings.“Ever since this protest started, he has not been himself. He sees photos of his daughter everywhere, a lot of people come and say many things. So much is happening that it was just too much to bear for him,” says Bhagirathi Bhatta, adding that her brother no longer recognises her, and calls a local policewoman 'Nirmala'. Durga Devi Panta looks harried not just from the struggle for justice for her daughter's unsolved rape and murder, but now by her husband's deteriorating mental health. “I don’t think we will ever get justice,” Durga Devi tells us, as she heats more water for protesters. “If the government wanted to give us justice, it would not have destroyed the evidence. I had lost hope right then. But now, this long protest for justice is taking our remaining health and sanity as well.”

Daughter's rape drives father to insanity

<figure><img width="1000" height="1333" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171116/63692f4a9c7e80680e03c09bjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Diwakar Chettri</figcaption></figure>Like all festivals in whichever religion, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/september-fest-editorial,3948" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dasain</a> probably has its origins in pre-historic harvest rituals. The rains are over, the sky is blue again, the terrace farms sway with the gold of ripening paddy. Our animist ancestors worshipped the sky, rivers and mountains and revered the passing of seasons. The myths of the triumph of good over evil and the killing of the water buffalo as an epitome of evil were added on later by insitutionalised religion.This Dasain, it has got harder than ever before to differentiate between good and evil. There is so much <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/in-nepal-beware-of-fake-news,2556" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fake news</a> flying about that the lines between right and wrong are being blurred. Nothing is what it seems. The murder rape of Nirmala Panta has forced the government to act, but it acted by suspending two police officers for destroying evidence. But on whose orders were those two junior cops tampering with the crime scene?Comrade Bamdev Gautam lost his Bardiya parliamentary seat in last year’s elections. But electoral defeat never deterred anyone in Nepal to remain in power. So, with a little bit of help from fellow-Communists in the ruling party he tried to convince MPs in Humla and Piuthan to give up their seat, but after they balked Gautam’s desperation began to show.Finally, he got his party co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal to convince the MP from Kathmandu 7, Rambir Manandhar, to resign. If the resignation is approved by the party (Prime Minister Oli is said to be against it) by-elections for that seat will be held next month. Manandhar is not unhappy, though. He actually appears victorious because he says he has been promised a seat in the Upper House, a ministerial post and entry into the party’s central committee.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=14900&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Festivals of sisterhood</a>, Sewa Bhattarai and Sabina DevkotaWe have come to expect such shenanigans from Nepal’s so-called Communists. There is precedent: when Dahal lost from his Kirtipur constituency in 2103, and was headed for sure <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2013/11/16/decision-at-the-polling-booth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defeat in Siraha</a>, the powers across party lines reportedly leaned on the winning UML candidate to look the other way while the Election Commission changed the score card.The way they justified it was that if the Supreme Commander of the Revolution lost, he may be so ticked off he may go back to war and there would be no new Constitution. For the sake of preserving the peace, they had to cheat.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=14876&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Go easy on the booze this holiday season</a>, Sonia AwaleLast Dasain, unbeknownst to many, Oli and Dahal were deep in secret negotiations to <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2017/10/03/art-of-the-impossible/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">forge an electoral alliance</a> in parliamentary elections in November 2017. The two parties needed each other: the Maoists to launder their war crimes, and the UML to ensure that a weak coalition would not be toppled again by India. The plan worked brilliantly, and the alliance won a thumping majority. The two parties went on to merge a few months later after Oli and Dahal agreed to be co-chairs and take turns being PM.Among the chief architects of the merger was none other than Bamdev Gautam. This Dasain, Gautam is back in the news, and trying to pull victory from the jaws of defeat. The united Communists are factionalised, and coalescing around Oli, Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal. A monolithic party with a historic majority has squandered most of its public support through feckless indecisiveness, threatening talk, unparalleled corruption and a debilitating inability to deliver.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=14883&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The sacrifice of animal sacrifices</a>, Aashish MishraThis Dasain, we have to try to temporarily forget ugly truths like these that have kept this country back. We will press the pause button and contemplate all that is good in Nepali society, and remind ourselves about the things we can be proud of as a nation: the fortitude and strength of our people who are tolerant to a fault, the value we place on our hardwon freedoms, and that despite everything we have notched major progress in public health, environmental protection, and an empowered citizenry.At a time when more than 15% of Nepal’s 29 million people live and work abroad, Dasain becomes <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/dasain-goes-global,3950" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an important time for the diaspora</a>. Together with our shared history and the Nepali language, Dasain is what binds Nepal together. This is not just a Hindu festival, it is a Nepali one. Wherever in the world they are, whatever their creed or nationality, Nepalis come together at Dasain. The festival has transcended its religious antecedent to become a time for families and for the nation itself to unite in common celebration, and revive our collective hope for the future.We have traditionally asked Pashupatinath, the patron deity, to set things right in this country. Maybe it is time to not leave everything to the Protector of Animals, but for all three levels of government, the opposition, federal Parliament, bureaucracy and all citizens to make a serious effort themselves.Update on 12 October: Bamdev Gautam has decided not to contest the by-election from Kathmandu7.

Octoberfest

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="">