Pooja’s
Case Remains Widely Unsettled:
Leaders
of Conscience Wanted
(Published in The Kathmandu Post, March 24, 2015)
(Sandhya Regmi)
(sandhyaregmi2000@gmail.com)
The
brutal rape of the six-year old child in her own town in Kalaiya— one of the
most heinous crimes against humanity in the country’s record—has emotionally
shaken up the country, induced feeling of insecurity in women and female
children, and degraded the country’s image as a child-unfriendly and insecure
place to be. Pooja—who was thrown to the
dumping site after the rape—breathed her last on 8th March in the
Kanti Children Hospital, 18 days after the incident.
The
whole nation reacted to the incident spontaneously with rage and agony. The
country witnessed protest rallies, demands for justice, deliberations and
solidarities against the violence, and peace marches, prayers, and candle-light
vigil in memories of the victim.
The
unusually speedy justice in the case delivered by the trial court—slapping 35-year
jail terms and Rs. 200,000 fine to the convicted criminal—is definitely a
welcome development. This has provided a sense of partial relief to the
victim’s family, and of assurance to the people on the state-machinery’s capability
in discharging justice, if the system is put to work to its true intend.
Yet
the underlying issues remain widely unsettled. Will that justice be ever able
to help return that sweet little Pooja to her mother’s lap? Nothing less is
likely to give solace to the heart-broken mother; so she is bound to suffer from
nightmares after nightmares. And only time can tell whether, when or to which
extent she will ever recover from the trauma.
This
heart-wrenching case has woken me up at the middle of the night, making me feel
suffocated and restless. As a mother of a girl child, when I put myself in
Pooja’s mother’s shoe, I fail to fall asleep for hours with the sense of
insecurity. Any other mothers, sisters, and daughters across the nation are
likely to have gone through similar senses.
Each
morning, when I sit down to drink tea with the daily national newspaper in my
hands, I have to be prepared to confront such news of heinous crimes with cold
chill running down my spine. A day hardly unfolds without an incident of
physical abuse and brutal attacks on women and minor girls. At times, I fail to
draw a boundary that could demark a safe zone for women and female children—parks,
schools, public places, religious places, and own home.
The
evil of sexual abuse against female child (and woman) pervades every corner of
the society. Out of the 912 rape cases recorded in 2070-71 by Women &
Children Service Directorate of Nepal Police, 80 victims were reportedly below
10 and 169 in 11-18 age group. In Tehrathum, a 6-year old child was raped when
she went to the neighbour’s place for charging the mobile phone. In Bardia a
similar incident took place when the mother of the girl had gone to collect
fodder. In Arghakhanchi an elderly of 76 had been committing sexual crime on a
11 year old minor since the past 10 months. In Sankhu a 7 year old minor gone for a picnic was raped
by a bus conductor in the vicinity of Bajrayogini temple. In Dhanusha a 30 year old mother
living together with her 12 year old son was gang raped by a group of 10
robbers. Nepali women have been raped
and murdered several times in gulf countries including our neighboring India. A
28 year old mentally challenged Nepali woman was recently raped and murdered in
Rotak in Haryana India. And these still do not account for the unknown number
of cases that go unrecorded, and the cases that get buried even before reaching
the door of justice.
So,
I submit that the Pooja-case remains grossly unsettled and will continue to do
so, until a sense of security is installed in the heart and mind of every
child, every girl and every woman in the country.
Installing
that sense demands fully addressing the underlying wider issues. Task list in
addressing the issues is straightforward. But, to implement them, leaders of
conscience are wanted. The sea of solidarity extended by the people across the
country reflects their desperate call for and overwhelming support to the
leadership that is capable of addressing the underlying issues.
The
task requires the incumbent to deal with the issues from multi-fonts at each
level: state, society, and individual.
Arguably,
the most important task on the list is to devise and implement an education
system that helps to put into right track the mindset of each person across the
country. The mindset that recognizes and respects life, values and rights of
every human being. The mindset that regards, and plays its role to protect, the
rights of children, women and other vulnerable people in the society. This
calls for installation of holistic education system, where moral education gets
the highest priority; and where everyone becomes aware about his/her rights and
duties, and about how the law would take its course if anyone breaches his
duty. Likewise, adult literacy needs fresh definition and campaign that focuses
more on educating citizens’ rights and duties than on memorizing the shapes and
sounds of ABC.
Secondly,
the state should establish an integrated network system of functional access
points across the country, where each individual could, freely and with ease, learn
and consult on human rights matters, and report on any rights-abuse matters. Specifically,
this calls for installing in each school a counseling desk, led by well-trained
female counsellor, with authority and duty to report on any rights-abuse
matters directly to the state authorities and the National Human Rights
Commission. Similar access points should be installed in each community to
serve its members.
Thirdly,
the state should review and enhance its institutional capacity to implement the
legislations in force, so that no one dares to abuse the existing legal system.
The set-up where no criminal could dare to abuse his connection or resources to
influence the justice delivery in any way so that every criminal could be
booked to justice. This task calls for installation of system-purifying machineries
with top-bottom approach, so that no politician and no office-holder of the
state dares to abuse his position, connection or office to influence the
justice.
Fourth
task involves requiring the state to devise and operate adequate institutional system
to rehabilitate the victims and affected families.
Fifthly,
the state should review, amend and supplement related legislations to realize
the above tasks. Among others, a fast-track-justice system should be enacted
and enforced to deliver speedy justice in rights-abuse evils in general, and in
cases involving female child and woman victims in particular.
Finally,
as a citizen and as a member of the civil society, each of us must continue to
serve as a constituent of human-right watchdog. And most importantly, to
eliminate the evils completely from this land of Buddha, each of us and all of us
must act in a responsible, accountable, and civilized way with due regards to
the rights and values of every human being.
(Sandhya Regmi,
an Engineer by Profession, is a freelance writer.)
