But regarding the cases of violence against women, the victims and their families have been staging protests on the streets everyday for the last 72 days to ensure that they are given the rightful justice by the law. The victims’ families argue that they need to take to the streets to assert their rights for justice and impartiality as they cannot solely rely on the police and the justice system.[break]
“After our mother was kidnapped, we waited for three months before we went out to streets asking for justice. We had to hold protest after our waiting proved futile,” says Sudha Maharjan, the youngest daughter of Chhori Maiya Maharjan.
Bijay Gajmer
On February 27, it had been a year since Chhori Maiya was kidnapped but her whereabouts are still unknown to the police or her kin who are continuously staging protests demanding for speedy and fair investigations from the police.
Though Chhori Maiya’s case isn’t exactly the case of violence against women like those of Sita Rai and the honor killings of Shiwa Hashmi and Bindu Thakur, it was incorporated as the five cases in the Occupy Baluwatar protests. But this case brings light to the situation of insecurity, and worse, the lack of seriousness on these cases by the authorities concerned.
“When someone reports a case of a missing person, the police right away loses its interest in its investigation because they are slow at interpreting it as a possible crime,” says Mohna Ansari, spokesperson of National Women’s Commission. She points out that many times the cases of violence against women are not only made less important cases by the police, they are also seen misbehaving with the people who go to the police stations to report such crimes.
“The main problem is the mentality of many people in the society as well as police officers who don’t look at the violence against women as crime,” adds Ansari.
Many women activists echo that when a victim goes to report about domestic violence or other cases of violence against women, they are not treated as victims, rather they are advised not to take any further action. The continuity of such attitudes by the country’s security system has also led to people taking to the streets for every case to demand justice, says Ansari.
With the celebration of the International Women’s Day today with the theme of “A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women,” and the ongoing public outcry regarding the feeble investigations by the police, the authorities concerned have buckled up, says Badri Prasad Neupane, Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare.
While women activists still claim that reporting a crime to police is still a tedious task, Minister Neupane says that the ongoing protest has made all the concerned authorities aware of the sensitivity of the cases.
“This issue has directly reached the Prime Minister’s office and there have been direct orders to amend the process of justice to the victims and regard these cases as of high importance,” says Neupane.
He also lists numerous Bills that work to strengthen the situation of women against any kind of discrimination, public space harassment and other gender rights but none of them are in the implementation stage due to the absence of the Cabinet.
“We have also decided to provide the victims of violence against women reimbursement of Rs 50,000 immediately, which can be raised afterwards regarding the seriousness of each case,” he adds.
Though the Minister is very sure about the amendments on the cases of violence against women, the victims, their families and women’s rights activists still remain unconvinced. Jagannath Lamichhane, a social activist who also has been active for the Occupy Baluwatar movement, says that after they started the protests, the five highlighted cases on the protests are gaining momentum but he also points out that these cases would have been denied justice if there wasn’t so much of public outcry.
The infamous rape and robbery case of Sita Rai, which triggered the protests, reflects upon the poor and irresponsible behavior of government authorities. Similarly, the kin of Chhori Maiya kidnapping case also claim that their case has also been stalled due to political interferences to save the suspect. The daughters of Chhori Maiya have been outspoken about the involvement of a renowned businessman, Dipak Malhotra, who is supposed to be a close aide to Home Minister Bijay Kumar Ghachhadar.
“Even in the case of Saraswati Subedi, we can see extreme carelessness by the government and police authorities,’ says Lamichhane. The suspects in Subedi’s cases were recently arrested but he claims that it was already too late for such action.
“Many evidences have been already destroyed and though there is a huge public speculation, in the absence of such evidences, the case is being made weak,” he says.
The five highlighted cases in the protests and their slow progression in investigation has questioned the effectiveness and reliability of the police and government authorities. Even after the interference by many women’s rights groups, common people and media, the cases of violence against women are not entitled to speedy justice, one can easily assume the treatment of such cases that are individually reported.
But is taking to the streets demanding justice for every case a solution?
“No, but there also should be certain parameters in the legal system that facilitates the victims of such cases,” says Ansari. But apart from the amendments in the law, there should be strict provisions that no person is above law, she adds.
“Many people get away with their crimes by exploiting their power and money. When these cases occur in districts, the culprits are generally district-level politicians and bureaucrats, but when the same happens in the capital, ministers and top-level bureaucrats also fall into the same bracket,” she says.
She argues that political parties should work to strengthening their stand on violence against women and have stricter rules for their members who commit such crimes.
“But the current trend is just the opposite. Political parties seem to protect such culprits instead,” she says. She also points out that if political parties express their solidarity with their actions, most of the social stigmas regarding these cases will also fade away.
Lamichhane, on the other, takes the protests as an opportunity to work to ending impunity as a whole.
“This is a historical opportunity not only to speak up about the five cases but also have a concrete legal assurance from the authorities concerned to end the cases of impunity once and for all,” he says.
Power-play has been a big hindrance to delivering rightful justice to victims. The ongoing protest has certainly highlighted many issues and unveiled many of the corrupt structures of the judicial system of the country. The participation of common people, especially youngsters, in the protests is commendable while the delay of the government in addressing the issues is equally disheartening. It is high time that the government bodies realized that it is shameful for them when victims are compelled go to the streets and garner public attention for justice.
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