The usual two-hour long protest from 9 to 11 am on Friday witnessed many male activists sporting sari, kurta and skirt to live the theme of “uni banera herda” (through her eyes). [break]
“The message is very strong -- speak for justice, see through her eyes and transform! The call is for those in the high government posts and others, who fail to feel, understand and respect women,” said Jagannath Lamichhane, a campaigner who appeared in green sari.
“Our fight is actually for change, for social justice and gender equality. The particular cases of Sita Rai, Sarasawati Subedi, Shiva Hasmai or Bindu Thakur are just representative ones. The theme “uni banera herda” is to hit the conscience of the males at the helm of the government and society,” he added.
Another attraction of the day was poetry recitation by invited poets, kins of the victims and others including late Saraswati Subedi´s father Khadak Bahadur Adhikari.
Ironically, cases of violence against woman (VAW) across the country were noticed alarmingly during and after 16-days of activism against VAW marked internationally from 25 November to 10 December every year. Social analysts and critics were divided over whether the cases had actually scaled up.
Speaking at a function UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal recently stated that the scenario is indicative of moral degradation of our society while Home Minister Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar maintained that the cases were coming to the fore due to “rising social awareness and effectiveness of the police force”. However, senior advocate Sapana Malla Pradhan terms such views as simply “irresponsible and discouraging.”
“Look at our legal system. A rape victim has to prove she was raped within a few hours of the incident. Let alone the situation elsewhere, our daughters are living in fear in the capital and the government is not in a hurry to address the problem,” Pradhan said.
According to Spokesperson at the National Women Commission Monha Ansari, the government needs to bring about a sea change in policy to empower women. “First, the state has to treat both the men and women as equals,” she said.
Both Ansari and Pradhan are the members of the investigation monitoring committee formed on Jan 2 to look into the cases of violence against women, including that of Sita Rai, who was robbed and raped by officials at the Tribhuvan International Airport; Saraswati Subedi, who was found hanging at her landlord´s house in Anamnagar; and Chhorimaiya Maharjan, who has been missing for over 11 months now.
A report handed over by the committee to the government on 17 January pointed out many lapses in the police investigation. While the cases are still under investigation, a youth activist in Baluwatar, Ujjwal Thapa stated that they campaigners are constantly in touch with the committee so as to ensure the cases are not closed.
Related story
Data for public policy
