Views of a Nepali Economist

Political leaders who led and participated in the democratic movement of 2046 BS are still referred to as “freedom fighters” in our daily parlance. There was one who had been jailed by the Panchayat government. His best friend, a fellow freedom fighter, would frequently visit his family during that period like any good friend would. When the one in jail went home after being released, his wife ran away with the best friend. The two best friends went on to become ministers in the post-Panchayat pro-democratic government at the same time. In any function one attended, the other would be absent in order to avoid any confrontation. This continued until one died recently.

In another incident, another freedom fighter was caught jumping out of a prostitute’s window not very long ago. There were a few who, when denied a ministership by their respective political parties, ran as independents and lost. These incidents and examples illustrate a lack of ethics, character and morality in our political leadership. This lack of ethics, character and morality then seeped into our bureaucracy and the larger civil society.

I know a few civil servants who are the best fathers, husbands, sons and uncles for their children, wives, parents and nieces. One of them was an officer who extracted money from Sita Rai in the now-infamous airport immigration extortion and rape case. That civil servant is still in hiding. What makes these best fathers, husbands, sons and uncles leave the confines of their own homes and turn into the sleaziest of civil servants and the vilest of human beings? I believe that this is replication, in civil service, of our Hindu tradition of sweeping and mopping our own homes clean every morning while throwing our filth and garbage right outside our boundary walls with complete disregard of how our actions affect others in the society.

How else can we, otherwise, explain our public officials in immigration and customs stealing two lakh rupees from a bruised and battered female worker returning from Saudi Arabia? On top of the extortion, the female worker is, then, handed over to a police officer who proceeds to rape her multiple times. What kind of safety and security should our mothers, sisters, aunts, nieces and grandmothers expect in this country where a police officer—entrusted with the duty to protect and serve—systematically and methodically rapes them?

Our police and army perform excellently while earning dollar salaries as UN peacekeeping forces in Africa. Why can’t these same police and army personnel show same kind of dedication and duty while serving in Nepal? Why can’t they fulfill their duties of “serve and protect” without unzipping their pants to rape a Maina Sunuwar or a Sita Rai? In addition to committing gender based violence crimes by themselves, our security forces are responsible in aiding and abetting such crimes, too. Human rights organizations have reported that—in most of Terai region—police officers have been mediating cases of gender based violence instead of registering the cases and bringing the perpetrators to justice. Police officers have been found conducting negotiations between victim’s family, perpetrators and local political actors.

Amidst all these, our national government remains not only a meek observer but actually contributes to the impunity. Murderers of journalist Dekendra Thapa have taken responsibility for their crime and have asked to be punished to the maximum extent allowable by the law. So, why is then the prime minister of the country asking the investigation officers to drop the case against the murderers who have confessed to their crimes and seek punishment?

The government has filed very few charges against the rapists, and has doled out even fewer punishments. Instead, immediately after a rape case becomes public news, the government announces monetary compensations to victims. Why is the government paying compensation to rape victims? A monetary compensation is not the first thing that victims of rape have in their minds when they ask their government to hear their case. The perpetrator of rape should be brought to justice and punished according to the law. In the event that the law decides to award compensation, it should come from perpetrators, not from the tax revenue that the government collects from hardworking everyday Nepali like me.

Abraham Lincoln once said that if you want to test a man’s character, you should give him power. Government bureaucrats who stole from, and then handed Sita Rai over to the police officer, lost their character when in a position of power. The police officer, who then raped Sita Rai, did the same. The army officers who raped and killed Maina Sunuwar did the same. Our public officials seem to be unable to keep their characters intact when in a position of power. They seem to be the worst of human beings when in duty and in a position of power.

Violence against Nepali women will continue because of impunity. None or very little consequences for committing crimes fail to deter the criminals from further committing similar crimes. If our government truly feels guilty for the frequency in which Nepali women seem to be raped, announcing an immediate monetary compensation is not the way to show that remorse. It should draft better laws and stronger punishments to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future. However, that has not been the case.

Further rapes and other forms of violence against Nepali women have been reported even after public outrage against recent rape cases. A woman in Banke and one in Bara were burnt alive by family members. A housemaid in Kathmandu has been found dead under mysterious circumstances. A woman was raped in one of the tea estates in Ilam. It seems the Nepali polity, bureaucracy and society has collectively decided to go down the moral drain at the same time. All because there is impunity to any and all crimes in today’s Nepal. Friedrich Nietzsche, the philosopher, once said that fear is the mother of all morality. Until and unless our polity, bureaucracy and society fear the consequence of their heinous actions, they will stay amoral.

(c) Mukesh Khanal