| A 10 year old girl was raped by a 22 year old man in early November who could not walk or feed herself since then. She had constant headaches,
nightmares, and was fearful of any strangers and had to be carried around by her mother everywhere. She received treatment at district hospital for infections of the genitourinary area which subsided but she still had the problems mentioned above. A month later she spent a week at (Centre For Victims of Torture, Nepal) CVICT’s treatment centre for women with her mother who both received psychosocial therapies while the girl also received medical check-ups, diagnosis and relevant investigations including getting engaged in other recreational activities.
She can now walk without support, eats well, has a smile on her face, sleeps well and is not fearful. She says that she can now walk to school without any fear.
The perpetrator has been arrested with the case pending in court. CVICT received 4 minors who were raped this year from various districts. 2 of the cases were settled by ‘Milapatra’ or ‘compromise’ where the perpetrator pays a certain amount of money to the victim and her family and a paper is signed to withdraw such criminal cases from prosecution. Such culture of impunity and withdrawing criminal cases by ‘Milapatra’ and
often by force is an affront to justice. Signing such ‘Milapatra’ is an ILLEGAL PRACTICE.
We appeal to all civil society members, human rights activists and other stakeholders to pressurize the government to look into this issue and try to stop this illegal practice. We ask all stakeholders to raise this issue in the upcoming Human Rights day 2011 on the 10th of December. The two other cases are pending in court while the perpetrators are behind bars. |
