After India, protests against rape spread to Nepal
Worldwide, Daily news | ankakh | January 4, 2013 20:59
Mass protests over the gang rape of a young medical student in India have inspired a similar movement in neighbouring Nepal, where hundreds of protesters have been picketing outside the prime minister’s residence for the past week. They are furious over the alleged rape and robbery of a maid by government officials, just one of many cases they accuse the government of ignoring.
Sita Rai, a pseudonym used to protect the maid’s identity, says that she was robbed and raped by immigration officials as she returned from Saudi Arabia to Kathmandu’s international airport. The government gave her 1,700 dollars in compensation, which is 700 dollars less than she said she lost.
When news of this got out a week ago, angry citizens began picketing in front of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai’s residence, in the upscale Baluwatar neighbourhood of Kathmandu. The protest, dubbed #OccupyBaluwatar on Twitter, soon spread, peaking on January 1 with about 800 protesters, according to organisers. It has continued since, though in smaller numbers, as the government has made several arrests in Rai’s case.
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