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According to a report by Amnesty International released on April 10, the Nepalese government has failed to protect women. Madhu Malhotra, deputy program director for the group’s Asia Pacific office, said, “Women activists are singled out for violent attacks as it further promotes a culture of silence and discourages women experiencing violence to speak out.”
In a country where the birth of a daughter is still regarded as a misfortune, attacks against women devoted to ending gender bias are a sure sign that the society is not ready to give up its age-old prejudices. The government’s failure to properly investigate and prosecute the guilty adds to the problem.
Last year, after a series of violent attacks against women rights activists, the government established a task force to study the situation and submit recommendations on how to end violence against women within two months. The report has yet to materialize.
The government’s laissez-faire attitude is empowering criminals. And the criminals are not always men. Earlier this month a Dalit, or “lower caste,” woman was assaulted, publicly humiliated and forced to eat human excreta after being accused of witchcraft.
Kalli Kumari B.K. was accused by local school headmistress Bimala Lama of practicing witchcraft on her daughter and other villagers. B.K. was forced to accept that she is a witch. Before being publicly humiliated, she and her husband were kidnapped by Lama and confined in a room for two days.
After mercilessly beating up B.K., Lama force-fed the Dalit woman her own excreta in the presence of the villagers. A women’s rights organization is now helping Kalli Kumari B.K. and her husband, but the government has failed to provide any assistance.
Across Nepal, every year a number of Dalit women are accused of witchcraft and are publicly humiliated. Often they are victimized for demanding equal rights or trying to get out of poverty, thus threatening the rule of the so-called “upper class.”
Unfortunately, caste-based violence against women has been ignored by the government as a “lesser evil.” Local police do not take these cases seriously. In the case of Kalli Kumari B.K., local authorities acted only when the case was highlighted by national media.
Gomadevi Khatri, who is 75 years old, was also mercilessly beaten up by villagers, her husband and his second wife after being accused of witchcraft.
Government inaction is empowering criminals who attack women, but civil society’s ignorance is also to blame. Rights activists based in Kathmandu and other major cities tend to pay attention to caste and gender issues only when the media highlight such incidents. Merely reporting these “sensational” incidents is doing little to eradicate violence, as no effort is made to understand the cause or socio-economic context of the incidents.
When a Dalit woman or a Dalit family is attacked, the reason most often is the fear of local influential “upper caste” individuals that the “lower caste” is being audacious enough to demand fair treatment. Widows and single women are also targeted. In the case of Gomadevi Khatri, she had separated from her husband after his second marriage and was thus an easy target.
Until something is done to educate society about such issues and to protect everyone equally under the law, such incidents will certainly continue.
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(Bhumika Ghimire is a freelance reporter. Her articles have been published at OhMyNews, NepalNews, Toward Freedom, Telegraph Nepal, Himal South Asian and ACM Ubiquity. She is also a regular contributor to News Front Weekly, in Kathmandu, and Nepal Abroad, in Washington D.C. She can be reached at bhumika_g@yahoo.com. ©Copyright Bhumika Ghimire.)
