As many as 800 people, including human rights activists, journalists, victims’ families, artists and the general public, shouted slogans, demanding justice for the victims. The All Nepal Football Associ-ation was also seen with a banner reading ‘Our Goal: End Violence Against Women.’ After the protesters learnt of the postponement of the Cabinet meeting scheduled for Tuesday, they decided to continue with sit-in protests until the next Cabinet meeting, rescheduled for Thursday.

 

“We want justice, not just assurances,” said activist Mandira Sharma, a participant in the protest. “We will not leave until the government makes good its promises.”

 

Upon receiving a charter of demands from protesters on Saturday, Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai had promised to table the demands in Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting. Following his direction, the government has also formed an eight-member monitoring committee, led by Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office, Rajuman Singh Malla, to oversee progress in the cases of violence against women . However, committee members remain divided over whether the Director General and the Director of the Department of Immigration (DoI) should be probed in the case involving robbery of Sita Rai at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).

 

The government has not made public a report of the committee investigating Rai’s mistreatment by TIA immigration officials. The media, however, reported the implication of Director General Suresh Adhikari and Director Lekhnath Pandey of the DoI in the case. “They should be suspended immediately and an investigation launched,” said Renu Rajbhandari, a probe team member.

 

Secretary Malla argued that as the case is related to corruption, the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority will initiate a probe. The Home Ministry has already prepared a charge-sheet against the accused and forwarded it to the CIAA, said Malla.

 

Officials at the Immigration Department also hinted at the involvement of high-level officials, claiming that such an incident cannot occur without their tacit approval. “She [Rai] was found with a fake passport and released on bail later, an action that section officers cannot do alone without help from above,” said one official at the Department. The government has only suspended, and not arrested, section officers Ram Prasad Koirala and Tika Pokharel, while senior non-gazetted officer Somnath Khanal and police constable Parsuram Basnet, who allegedly raped Rai, are in custody.

 

The protest, which was triggered by Rai’s case, has snowballed into a citizen-led movement against all kinds of discriminatory practices and gender-based violence.

 

Cases of Chhori Maiya Maharjan and Saraswati Subedi have also been taken up by the movement. Maharjan has been missing since February and Subedi was found dead two weeks ago at her workplace.

 

Meanwhile, civil society leaders, activists and the Inter-Party Women Network, comprising women organisations from major political parties, took out a protest rally from Shanti Batika, which converged into a mass gathering at Bhrikuti Mandup on Tuesday. They urged the government to take action to put a halt to gender-based violence.