Emerging issue in Nepal: Rape

With the increase in awareness and literacy our country is yet moving backwards when it comes to rape. The four word term “Rape” is one of the biggest nightmare of any individual either it’s a male or a female. But when it comes to our country Nepal the number of rape victims are high in case of female. On March 2019, myRepublica posted an article saying that there are 1127 rape cases recorded in 8 months in our country. Those are the number of rape cases that have been registered by Nepal Police but the numbers are more than that. There are many females who tend to shut their mouth for the sake of their family and reputation. 

According to Nepal Police spokesman Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Uttam Raj Subedi, the cases of rape, theft and alcoholism have increased due to growth in social deviances. Similarly, he added,

“Previously, rape victims would not come forward fearing social stigma but that is gradually changing,”

Majority of rape victims fall under the age group of 11-16 years old. There are many girls who have been the victim of sexual harassment and rape from their own family. There are laws for Rape in our country called “Muluki Ain Regarding Rape” but the culprits of rape escape easily. One of the law is that any unmarried girl, widow or someone’s wife under sixteen years is forced or threatened for sexual intercourse than it is a case of rape.

There are a number of girls that fear in their day to day life and are living under the threat of getting rapped. The punishment for the culprit is imprisonment for six to ten years if the woman raped is under fourteen years and three to five years if the women is above fourteen years of age. But in our country, the culprit escape easily. Last year a girl named Nirmala Panta from Kanchanpur was raped and murdered. People from different parts of the country raised voice for the justice of Nirmala. There were many people seeking for justice but the culprits of her rape are yet to get caught. The police could not give her justice. The people who raped her are free and perhaps finding their new target.

Rape is one of the emerging problem of our country. We hear about rape cases every time and it is heartbreaking for the people of Nepal. Government has to take strict action against people who rape someone. Everyone should be given awareness and different programs should be organized. There should not be any woman that has to live under the fear of getting raped. There are always news about how police punishes those couples who agreed on having sexual intercourse and visit to hotels. But police hardly catch those culprits of rape.

Recently the United Nations Human Rights Committee has urged Nepal to investigate the rape of a woman during the decade-long conflict, while also highlighting the need to adapt its laws related to rape and sexual violence and remove obstacles faced by victims to accessing justice and compensation. Government should make strict laws so that everyone is safe in the country and people don’t have to go through another rape case.