By Salonika Neupane

This is a followup piece about a story that we published on June 2022. Women had walked for 20 days to reach the capital of Nepal seeking justice for two women who had died due to violence. One of the women have not yet found justice. This is a reflective and informative piece on their journey for seeking justice.

A year after returning to Nepalgunj, Ruby Khan and her team were once again forced to head for Kathmandu. A lot had happened in the previous year. After reaching an agreement with the federal government, they had returned to their villages. As per the agreement, a team from the CIB (Central Investigation Bureau) had been sent to investigate the twelve-year-old case of the disappearance of Nirmala Kurmi. A year later, the CIB still “hadn’t finished the investigation”. The protesters had demonstrated in the capital for forty-two days to demand a CIB investigation. As a federal agency, the officers of the CIB, Khan had hoped, could not be pressured by the perpetrators. For a year, the women’s rights activists had awaited for the CIB to complete their investigation and register the case in the District Court. Their hopes slowly faded away as the CIB began to delay this process. When asked by the activists, they would claim that there was not enough evidence to implicate the accused, which was surprising, given the substantial evidence that the activists themselves have against the perpetrators, including photos of the main accused forcefully pulling the victim across the field. This raised suspicion that the CIB officers were being influenced by the perpetrators.

Meanwhile, over the year, a number of the activists were beaten in their own village. In order to avoid suspicion and charges,  the men who beat the  women were members of  their extended families.

That way, they could claim it was due to a family dispute. As a result, officially, these cases were dealt separately from the ongoing fight for justice for Nirmala Kurmi.

The final act that pushed the activists to leave once again for Kathmandu was the national and state level elections that were conducted three months ago. Badshah Kurmi, the main accused, is a member of the same party as the Prime Minister. The fact that the Prime Minister had been hesitant in taking action against the member of his own party was not very surprising. But the fact that the PM, as the head of his political party, nominated the accused for a seat in the state legislature did raise eyebrows. Badshah Kurmi, who had been a member of the Constitution Assembly when Nirmala Kurmi disappeared, was once again elected to the State Parliament. The activists started their journey to Kathmandu three days before he was supposed to be sworn in as a member of parliament. Once sworn in, he would have enough influence to dismiss the case altogether.

That is the story of how, for the third time in a year and a half, the group reached Kathmandu in search of justice. For nearly fifty days they demonstrated peacefully in the usual place in Maitighar with their four demands:

• formation of a justice committee for investigation of the case within a time limit

• registering the case in the District Court

• reevaluation of the document that had been used to transfer Nirmala Kurmi’s property to the hands of the land mafia

• security of the activists

The forty-eight days were far from a smooth ride. This time there was a new Prime Minister, one who was from a different political party. There was a chance that he would be more responsive than the previous one. Ironically, it took even longer this time than previously for their demands to be met. The tumultuous political situation in the government might also be a factor for this. Even the new Minister of Home Affairs visited the demonstration site and asked for some time to take action.

The demonstrators went to demonstrate near the District Administration Office. Being a restricted area, seven protesters, including Ruby Khan, three members of her team and three from civil society were taken into custody for the day. The team then gave an ultimatum of five days for the new government to take action, at the end of which Khan was preparing for a hunger strike. Unfortunately, the then Minister of Home Affairs had to resign which forced the demonstrators to extend their ultimatum.

Finally after a meeting with the PM on the forty-eighth day, an agreement was reached. The PM promised to form yet another investigation committee that would file the case in the District Court, and to take measures to ensure the safety of demonstrators. The activists, on their side, had put their demand of a justice commission on hold, in order to give some time for the PM to fulfil his side of the agreement. Fifty long days after they reached Kathmandu, the team took the bus back to their home. Currently, a special investigation team has been formed under the Inspector General of Nepal Police.

 The case of Nirmala Kurmi is not a rare one. Violence against women, particularly single, widowed women, is a part of the Nepalese society. This is also not the first case in which a perpetrator of violence against women has walked away scott free owing to his political connections. As Ruby Khan mentioned before, this is just a representative case.

Even if Ruby Khan and her team are able to win justice for Nirmala Kurmi against an MP, it will do little to satisfy the hunger for justice for the many women who have been a victim of violence in this patriarchal culture. Why then have fifteen women left their families and homes for almost two months and risked their physical safety and that of their families to demand for justice for Nirmala Kurmi, a resident of their village? Why is this case so significant?

The significance lies not in justice for one single woman. If successful, this would symbolizs a victory of justice over patriarchy. For too long, women have kept quiet about the oppression they have faced, about violence they have been subjected to. For too long, powerful men have taken women as a mere piece of meat to be exploited for their benefit. If successful, the case of Nirmala Kurmi can be an example for all: for the silenced women to fight violence against themselves; for powerful men to fear punishment. If they cannot be taught to respect women, they can be taught to fear disrespecting women.

 At the demonstration site, I look around at the faces of the women demanding justice. I remember them from a year back. That was the first time that many of them had left their villages. I see them coming to Kathmandu for the third time. The changes are clear to me. They are more confident. I can see it in their faces, their body language, their voices. As Ruby Khan said, for most of them public life used to revolve between their homes (where they live with their husbands), the markets and their parents’ homes. Now, there is a fearlessness about the way they navigate their way in a foreign city, miles away from their families. I can’t help but feel awe and inspiration to think of how they have been empowered in less than two decades under good leadership and organising. Sharing this space with them, an endless world of amazing potentialities for women opens before me.