NUWAKOT: Sancha Maya Tamang, 52, an inhabitant of Urleni Tadi-1, Urleni had an unnatural death on September 27.

Speaking to the police who had been there for the investigation of the incident, the locals said that the deceased was “branded” a witch while she was alive and now after death, she might possibly be portrayed as a ghost.

This made the police more suspicious. During the investigation, it was found that she was ‘incited to commit suicide in an allegation of a witch.’

Police filed a case against Laxu Tamang and Aite Man Tamang — both inhabitants of Urleni — for their alleged involved in the incident. Both of them are in custody for trial.

According to SP Tul Bahadur Karki, the Chief of District Police Office, Nuwakot some people accused of inciting Sancha Maya to die are still absconding.

While the festive flavor of Dashain was still on, a 14-year-old girl of Bidur Municipality-12 was attempted to rape. Jitendra Aryal, the neighbor, who was called to repair a multi-plug, attempted to rape her.

The couple who had had an inter-caste marriage and were living away from their community also returned home in lockdown, but they were also ill-treated both at home and in the society.

While trying to flee, the girl got her two fingers fractured. Although the perpetrator tried to settle the case by paying Rs 25,000 to the victim, her brother did agree with it.

He took the case to the police. Some local leaders sided with the perpetrator and put pressure on the victim to settle the matter. The victim’s family which regarded the case as inexcusable chose to take the case ahead legally.

These are some of the representative cases of gender-based violence in Nuwakot. District Police Office, Nuwakot has received 362 complaints against gender-based violence.

Here are the cases related to women and children lodged in District Police Office Nuwakot in the past three years:

Painful coronavirus period

The government enforced a nationwide lockdown on March 24 to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

A substantial number of people were stranded during the lockdown. Thousands of people walked hundreds of kilometers to reach their destination. One among those stranded was a 17-year-old girl from Belkotgadhi Municipality-7.

She had difficulty in going home as she was in the district headquarters Bidur of Nuwakot, and there were no means of transportation to go home.

She requested the co-driver whom she knew him before. Satya Kumar Rai, the co-driver from Bhojpur agreed to help her.

In the evening of April 1, the co-driver of the microbus took the girl from Bidur to Ratmate. Before getting down the microbus, Rai asked her to love him i.e. kiss him. She agreed. Soon, he raped her in the microbus.

The girl who was in Grade 10 in a school later complained to the police and now Rai is in jail. The friendship and acquaintance through social media ended in the rape of a schoolgirl.

The unusual situation that erupted due to the coronavirus pandemic turned the cause for violence to many people.

The long lockdown restricted the movement of the people. They lost their jobs and their source of livelihood. As a result, many people became the victim of violence often from acquaintances even from family members.

The statistics of the last three years reveal that the number of cases of violence has increased in the fiscal year 2019/20.

Advocate Garima Pandey says that the instances of violence against women have increased due to lockdown and prohibitory orders issued to curb and control the coronavirus pandemic.

“Violence against women has increased as public services have been disrupted due to pandemic,” she told Khabarhub.

“As all other activities got stalled and everyone stayed at home the violence against women also got worse. Not only this, but the work pressure at home also increased due to lockdown.”

Lack of access to court, the fear of being expelled from the family or society provided they file the case against perpetrators among many other things has forced the victims to endure violence.

When people were confined to home, they got leisure. Having more leisure, husbands increased the supervision of their wives, brothers and fathers increased the supervision of the sister/daughters. Thus, the freedom of the girls and women was restricted.

Advocate Pandey shared that the complaint made in person or over the phone in the help desk of Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO) Nepal reveals that the women got tortured even for making friends in social media and communicating with them as well.

The couple who had had an inter-caste marriage and were living away from their community also returned home in lockdown, but they were also ill-treated both at home and in the society.

Binda Dhungana, Chairperson of the Inter-party Women’s Network, Nuwakot has found that people suffered in several ways. For instance, people with chronic illness did not get regular treatment; many males took to alcohol, drugs and gambling.

In the meantime, women had to manage the household financially. When they asked the males not to take to alcoholism, they had to endure violence.

Although, a large number of people returning from Indian and third countries brought the happiness of reunion in the first few days of lockdown, soon the rows started in the family as their source of livelihood was gone forever now.

The local Judicial Committee also could not keep themselves active due to the coronavirus pandemic. As the traffic was closed, it was difficult for the victim to go to lodge a complaint.

Yet, Chairperson Dhungana is relieved to say that the organization has taken initiative to bring justice to the victims even in such a situation.

Many women were tormented for not giving sexual satisfaction to the husbands whereas some others were tortured for extra-marital affairs. Some more were evicted from their homes.

Sub-Inspector Shuku Maya Tamang, the official at the Women and Children Cell of the District Police Office, Nuwakot told that the district saw many such incidents during the lockdown.

Justice at local levels

With the functioning of the judiciary committee at local levels, the pressure of the cases of domestic violence is less on the police now. Many cases of domestic violence are reconciled by this judiciary committee.

SP Karki, however, points out that the method of seeking justice has decreased of late, the number of cases has not decreased even these days.

District Attorney Gopal Prasad Dhakal remarks that after the formation of the judicial committee at local levels and the reconciliation and legal action taken there have reduced the disputes of cases of civil nature in the police.

Deputy Mayor of Dupcheswor Rural Municipality Anju Acharya, who is also the coordinator of the Judicial Committee of Dupcheswor, said that the committee has been resolving the issue through reconciliation provided both parties agreed whereas suggest the parties ways ahead if the case lies beyond the jurisdiction of the committee.

She remarked that the Judicial Committee has been helping to reconcile the disputes related to sharing the labor, minor disputes, boundary disputes, loss or damages caused by the animals, the consumption of natural resources, etc, and helping them both feel win-win in the reconciliation.

Local Government Operation Act 2017 has a provision that grant the local judiciary committee the authority to resolve disputes of civil nature. Local levels have formed benches on their own and with the help of many other organizations.

The local level has been assigned the responsibility to resolve the specified disputes and implement the solutions.

Ishwori Upreti, the Deputy Mayor of Tadi Rural Municipality, informed Khabarhub that most of the complaints the Judicial Committee received are of violence against women and gender discrimination.

She claims that the committee has been keeping the parties of disputes in her office and work out the point of agreement.

She opines that more than the bench to give verdict on various disputes, the local levels need a good meeting room, efficient manpower and data management.

Most of the cases are suppressed or hidden

Many cases of gender-based violence have been concealed or hidden due to the dire situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The police data reveals that crimes against women and children are on the rise. Had their campaigns worked, the campaigns of the people’s representatives at the local level should have reduced the incidents, but, the data shows otherwise.

Lack of access to court, the fear of being expelled from the family or society provided they file the case against perpetrators among many other things has forced the victims to endure violence.

This problem is not unique to the coronavirus pandemic period. Many cases of gender and ethnic violence and discrimination are hidden in homes and communities.

Deputy Mayor of Belkotgadhi Municipality Kavita Dhungana remarks that many incidents of violence against women and discrimination have not come out and are not allowed to come out as well.

“Incidents of violence against the women are not allowed to come out directly,” also an advocate and Coordinator of the Judicial Committee of Belkotgadhi Dhungana told Khabarhub.

She thinks that the efforts to stop violence against women are not enough. She concludes that launching awareness programs and financial empowerment of women is the most to improve the situation.

Lack of manpower at the Judicial Committee

Although it’s pivotal to empower the local level to control the recurrence of crimes against women and ethnic harassment and the growing number of incidents, this aspect has often gone ignored.

To address the concerns about the deputy mayor’s judicial capacity and impartiality due to their political affiliation, the legal help desk has to be made more effective.

Shanti Gurung, the Deputy Mayor of Mygang Rural Municipality thinks it better to provide a legal aid team to reduce the chances of political biasedness the political leadership is subject to.

To make the local judicial committee more effective and systematic, the local judicial committees need a good room to keep the parties of disputes together. The committees also need frequent orientation training.

Manpower is also needed for data collection and storage.

Deputy Mayor Gurung regrets that the role of the Judiciary Committee is not as effective as expected due to the lack of legal knowledge to the coordinator and the lack of proper place for facilitation.

Apsara Thapa, the Vice-Chairperson of the District Coordination Committee, Nuwakot, complains that lack of resources has affected the efficiency of the Judicial Committees.

“Although the legal provisions equipped the local levels with the Judicial Committees, the committees have not been able to function well due to the lack of skilled manpower and good infrastructures,” Shrestha told Khabarhub.

There are 12 local levels in the district. Although some of them have arranged for a separate hall for dispute resolution, many of them have been using Deputy Mayor’s office for the purpose.

Illiteracy — the main cause of women’s backwardness, sufferings

One of the main reasons for early marriage and many problems faced by women is the lack of literacy.

Anju Acharya, the Deputy Mayor of Dupcheswor Rural Municipality says that most of the instances of violence will end provided the girls are provided the opportunity of higher education is given to the girls.

“Dupcheswor Rural Municipality which used to face lots of problems of human trafficking, lack of education and unemployment is progressing remarkably after the light of education has reached to a larger number of girls,” Acharya told Khabarhub.

She is delighted to share that no children of school-going age are deprived of access to school education in Dupcheswor.

Likewise, Arjun Shrestha, the chief of Education Development and Coordination Unit Nuwakot also thinks that education and participation of women play a significant role to curb and control human trafficking and violence against women.

According to him, more than 95 percent of the school-going children have been at school due to the facilities like the higher education at the locality, girls friendly toilets, tiffin to the students, scholarship among many others.

Increasing instances of gender-based violence

The police data reveals that crimes against women and children are on the rise. Had their campaigns worked, the campaigns of the people’s representatives at the local level should have reduced the incidents, but, the data shows otherwise.

Police officials remark that owing to the undue pressure from the politicians the victim does not receive proper justice and the cases of violence also do not decline.

Apsara Thapa, the Deputy Chief of District Coordination Committee Nuwakot also agrees with the police officials’ remarks and confesses that the male chauvinism that is prevalent in politics has been influencing the verdicts on the cases related to gender-based violence.

Speaking about the measures to be adopted, the human rights activists reiterate increasing awareness and encouraging the victims to speak out about their suffering so that the perpetrators are booked by law and the victims get justice.

The Judicial Committee at the local level has been vigilant to make justice free from disputes, but she complains that often the verdicts are affected by the patriarchal tendency. Thapa complains that even the people who advocate for the rights of women are also found involved in the violence against women.

District Police Chief SP Karki says that most of the violence against women is linked to sex no matter how much society is improving.

According to him, in some cases, the practice of ‘consensual physical contact turning into rape’ has exacerbated the problem.

The violence is also the factor of women’s lack of financial strength and lack of education.

Nuwakot, where heinous crimes such as trafficking in girls have been so frequent, women are forced to suffer sexual and domestic violence.

Speaking about the measures to be adopted, the human rights activists reiterate increasing awareness and encouraging the victims to speak out about their suffering so that the perpetrators are booked by law and the victims get justice.