KATHMANDU, April 2: Just a month after the news of Pokhara native Neha Pun's murder rocked the nation, another incident concerning 19-year-old Venisha Limbu has shocked us all.
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These are not isolated incidents. Sex crimes are on the rise as evidenced by the number of small and large media reports from around the country. What are the factors that lead to this kind of crime? Republica talked to some young people who shared their thoughts on this topic.
Simon Shrestha, 22BBA, Presidency College of Management Sciences
It is the absence of stringent laws and strict punishment that has been encouraging culprits so far. There must be equality and justice for all. Moreover, I'm sure there have been many cases where even if a criminal is found guilty, he has been freed by the virtue of his political connections.
In my opinion, there is no exact cause for such incidents. These could be due to any reason that the criminal deems right. It could be a grudge toward the victim, nursing of the person's ego, or perhaps simply to show male dominance. In some cases, the physical attraction the perpetrator feels for the victim might lead to the crime.
However, lack of sex education is an important but missing factor in our society that could be related to this increasing trend of sex crimes. In our society, when we utter the word 'sex' we check to see whether someone is listening to us. When we watch TV at home and we come across news reports about rape or sexual violence, we change the TV channel because we find it unwholesome for family viewing. It is due to these kinds of behavior on our part that our young ones remain unaware about sexual violence and its implications.
So it is every parent's responsibility to provide sex education to the children before it is too late. Let us not keep sex in its shroud of mystery.
When a girl is raped, the blame is placed on her clothes and her lifestyle. Her manner of dressing is not an invitation for anyone to rape her. Every father and brother wants to protect their daughters and sisters but if every father and brother knows how to respect all women, there will be no need to protect women.
Ken Subedi, 25
Communications Officer, Ullens School
Women are bound to face different kinds of violence and harassment because of reasons such as patriarchal thoughts according to which women need to remain silent after the violence and tolerate it; gender roles; state inactiveness in maintaining power relationship between men and women; not criminalizing many incidents; considering domestic violence as private matter; the rejection of victimized women and women being considered second class citizens. People blame the victim instead of the perpetrator due to those same underlying structures ruled by patriarchal values. Media practices double jeopardy by disclosing sensitive information. They should give proper attention to such incidents and help in raising awareness. Media needs to be very gender sensitive.
With the rise in sex crimes, there should be laws that strictly help to implement rule of law. There are various underlying factors that assist culprits in their terrible online activities. Cyber crimes should have separate and clear laws, and media will play an important role in awareness. In many countries, sexual violence is taken as strategy of war, and sex crimes increase when the country itself is in transitional phase or in turmoil.
Lack of proper education and knowledge make them more vulnerable to such kinds of violence. Very few cases are reported to the police or concerned agencies. Young people are implicated in great number of sexual violence incidents. It is easier to involve them in such acts as it is easy to keep them in one's control either by luring, persuading or threatening them.
Reezan Shrestha, 16
Class 10, Little Flower School, Chitwan
There is no doubt that different types of criminal activities are increasing rapidly in Nepal. It is especially true in the cases of sex crimes. Nowadays, we are reading or hearing about sexual harassment or rape cases quite frequently. My blood boils whenever I hear a case of sexual violence. But the truth is that no matter how much we sympathize with the victim, we haven't done enough to prevent the crime in the first place. We should focus on putting a stop to the crimes instead of commiserating with the victim after the crime has been committed. Lack of awareness, lack of proper education, and lawlessness encourage criminals. It's important that our society embraces gender equality and we learn to respect both sexes. Awareness is needed to prevent these crimes but strict punishment is also required to deter perpetrators. Proper action is not taken against these crimes. We have to make more people aware about these social problems.
It gets very difficult for a society to accept a rape victim because of their narrow thinking. Victims should not be harassed. Crime occurs because of the criminal's actions, not that of the victim.
Arjun Thapa Magar, 31
TU student
Our government has failed to conduct awareness campaigns about sex education and implement strict punishment for criminals. Culprits do not fear any kind of consequences. The importance of respecting one other, regardless of gender, should be instilled in us from a very young age. Children should be treated well and without discrimination. Our social system, which considers women as second class citizens, needs to undergo a complete change. This can only be done with the education and cooperation of all citizens. As far as I can see, the only reason people blame victims is because we live in a male dominated society, so females are obviously the target of scorn.
Reena Barolia, 28
Editor, Saksham-Yes We Can
I think we should take this issue as a personal concern instead of blaming the government. We are being accustomed to reading about such crimes in our society now. Little or no education can be one of the factors that make someone commit a crime. A culprit's mindset is so vulgar that they just assume that what they are doing is probably as normal as we consider our everyday activities.
However, basic awareness isn't the solution. To prevent such incidents from happening, we have to step up together and try to change our society for the better. We can do this in a number of ways such as a better education system, instilling a superior sense of moral and social values, etc.
People presume that the way women dress is the reason behind the crimes. Perhaps they should be accepting that the crude way they view those women is what is accelerating such crimes.
