Exclusive: Colombo, Sri Lanka: We, Nepalese currently living in Sri Lanka, are writing to express our deepest concern about absence of law and order which relate to the cases of Sita Rai, Saraswoti Subedi and Chori Maiya Maharjan in Nepal.

Sri Lankan Nepalese with Ambassador for Nepal in Sri Lanka, Sushil Chandra Amatya. Photo courtesy: Anita Pariyar

His Excellency Sushil Chandra Amatya,

Ambassador for Nepal in Sri Lanka
Embassy of Nepal
153, Kynsey Road, Colombo 8, Sri Lanka
Telephone: (94) 2689656-7

Subject:  Rule of Law and Justice in Nepal.

YourExcellency,

We, Nepalese currently living in Sri Lanka, are writing to express our deepest concern about absence of law and order which relate to the cases of Sita Rai, Saraswoti Subedi and Chori Maiya Maharjan in Nepal.

We are alarmed by increasing incidents everyday specifically violence against women and children in Nepal. As conscientious citizens we are shocked and horrified by looting and rape of “Sita Rai” by government officials, on-duty civil servants of the Immigration Department and a police officer. It’s a shame that civil servants on duty carryout such inhumane and criminal activities against woman. We request the government of Nepal for justice to those victims through your Excellency.

The government of Nepal is notshowing its responsibility to enforce strict law on such cases where perpetrators are roaming freely. We are also alarmed by the police’s predatory “inquiry” into the mysterious death of Saraswoti Subedi. The body of the 31-year-old widow and mother was found in Anamnagar where she was employed as a house maid in Krisha Parsai’s house.

The frequency of such cases, Chori Maya Maharjan, Sita Rai and Saraswoti Subedi to name just a few, are really disturbing. Shoddy investigations only as an eyewash that follow the incidents force us to ask whether government of Nepal is capable of delivering justice to its citizens, especially the poor and marginalized?

A citizen merely asking  for her due under the law should not need the Prime Minister’s personal intervention. The failure of government of Nepal to ensure the most basic protections has led to Nepal’s peaceful sit-in outside Prime Minister’s residence. We Nepali living in Sri Lanka express our solidarity to the civil society’s “peaceful sit-in-outside Prime Minister’s residence” campaign demanding Justice and Rule of Law. People have exhausted all other means. We now demand that the Prime Minister of Nepal personally ensure his government prevents incidents of violence this nature. In cases that take place, we demand that Prime Minister ensures justice. It is only when the prime minister fully and effectively prosecutes perpetrators of violence against women, the government can be considered committed to ensure the rule of law in the country.  

Sita Rai, Saraswoti Subedi and Chori Maya Maharjan are symbolic cases only. Therefore, we demand justice from the perspective of "victims",we demand for state accountability, we demand end of corruption & impunity and finally and most importantly we strongly demand security of victims.

Our Main Demands:

In the “Sita Rai” case

1. Release the report of the government appointed investigation committee to the public.

2. Initiate departmental and criminal proceedings against all civil servants involved in looting and raping “Sita Rai”. This includes those directly named by the victim, as well as all co-conspirators.

3. To establish a committee comprising of women’s rights activists, human rights lawyers and representatives of the victims to ensure a full investigation in order to maintain oversight of the police investigations and assist the Women’s Commission. This committee should be empowered to:-

• Review all evidences/investigative documents relating to the case.
• Provide appropriate suggestions to the police department that must be implemented.

Demands related to both the cases

1. The Home Ministry must provide updates to the Women’s Commission within 48 hours on the status of investigations in all open cases of violence against women. Specifically we demand updates on the following recent incidents.

Chori Maiya Maharjan
Sita Rai
Saraswoti Subedi

The Women Commission should immediately create a system to provide regular updates to the victims’ representatives.

2. The Home Ministry must issues directives to all police posts across the country stating that the police has an obligation to register a FIR and/or start investigations on any alleged cases of violence against women reported to them. Departmental action should be initiated against the chief of any police post which fails to register a FIR.

3. Home Minister Bijaykumar Gachhadar must resign, accepting moral responsibility for his department’s obvious failure in the Sita Rai case.

4. As the root cause of all the above listed problems is weak state machinery, Prime Minister Bhattarai must publicly apologize to the victims’ families, committing himself to strengthening the country’s security and legal systems.

5. We strongly demand security and justice for women and daughter in Nepal.

Yours Sincerely,

Nepali living in Sri Lanka    

9th January 2013

Name       Signature

1.    Anita Pariyar
2.    Anju Pande Jinadasa
3.    Deepti Rai
4.    Laxmi Limbu    
5.    Mingmar Dolma Sherpa
6.    DJ Subba
7.    Parshuram Gautam

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