Before India’s ban of the documentary on the gang rape becomes old news, there is a need to talk about it in Nepal. The BBC documentary India’s Daughter was banned because the government claimed the filmmakers did not obtain proper clearance to shoot the film, and on grounds of national honor, arguing the film would ruin India’s image.
The documentary is about the gang rape of Jyoti Singh at the hands of six men in December 2012 in a moving bus in New Delhi. The victim’s entrails were taken out, and she was left to die naked, bleeding on the streets. Jyoti died while in treatment, and the film recaps the episode. Her rape, gruesome and shocking, caused an outrage nationally and internationally.
Young Pakistani seeking justice for 'honor killings' shot dead...
India’s ban citing ‘national honor’ is most troubling. It highlights a psyche where rape is still a taboo, and the culture, which has ‘good values’ should not be made a mockery of. This psyche buries the horrendous crimes against women because honor and image are more important than justice. This idea that rape is a taboo is essentially where the problem lies.
Nepal is no different. Honor and image are often discussed when we talk about our daughters. That it is shameful to get raped is a deep-rooted idea in Nepali culture where daughters are preserved and protected till they are married off. Who will marry the girl if they know she was raped? Her future will be ruined if this comes out in the open, parents have this concern. Geeta Neupane, counselor at the Women’s Foundation Nepal, says this is one of the reasons rape is under-reported.
“Shame and disrepute is a big reason for rape being under-reported,” Neupane said in a phone interview with me. We may not have banned the film, but victims of sexual assault and rape are afraid to come out in the open and talk about it because of such the associated shame and disrepute. The shame also comes because of a victim-blaming culture where women are blamed for going out, wearing short clothes and provoking such attacks, said Neupane. This causes a major problem, not only statistically but because under-reporting a problem also means the public is often unaware of its scale, and therefore does not understand the magnitude of it. This prevents a mechanism where people talk, actively discuss, educate and protest.
When two young girls aged 15 and 16 became victims of an acid attack on Feb 23, many people I knew expressed shock and said, “I didn’t know this could happen in Kathmandu.” The shock perhaps came because many such incidents of abuse are under-reported, and the actual danger women are under is often misrepresented. Because the attack was in the capital, the center of political and economic power, protests took place quickly, the issue was widely reported and the government promised compensation and justice to the victims.
But reporting and seeking justice for rape increases when victims hear of other victims getting justice, said Neupane. “There is hope as a result.”
This in itself is the reason to talk about such issues openly. While we Nepalis cannot change the culture of shame overnight, perhaps it is time to talk and not shun this conversation about rape. This week, on the occasion of the International Women’s Day, a six-year-old rape victim in Nepal died after struggling for life for 14 days. The victim, Puja Shah, was found unconscious near the garbage area of a cotton mill in Bara district. The suspect, Kanaiya Lal Gupta, is under police custody. But in spite of this horrendous attack, there has been little outrage.
Let’s fight for Puja Shah and her family and let’s make sure the rapist is punished so other victims who don’t report such horrendous attacks are inspired to speak out and fight for justice too.
(The author is a freelance writer)
