A Voice For the Voiceless
The Advocacy Project helps marginalized communities to tell their story, claim their rights and produce social change. Since 1998, AP has supported 117 community-based organizations in 52 countries.
Read more about AP partners who have produced social change.
- News Service
- Bulletins
- By Country/Territory
- Afghanistan
- Bangladesh
- Bosnia
- Brazil
- Czech Republic
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
- Guatemala
- Iran
- India
- Iraq
- Kenya
- Kosovo
- Macedonia
- Malaysia
- Nepal
- Dalit "Witches" Face Extreme Violence in Nepal's Villages, April 3, 2009
- Inter-Caste Marriages in Nepal Face Violence and Intimidation, February 12, 2009
- New Campaign by Nepali Women Targets Scourge of Uterine Prolapse, December 2, 2008
- True Love Collides with Caste Discrimination in Nepal's Villages, July, 9, 2008
- Nepal Women and Dalit Ride into Parliament on Maoist Coattails, April 24, 2008
- Women, Dalit Seek Change From Historic Elections in Nepal, April 9, 2008
- Advocates On Wheels Take Their Campaign Against Disappearances to the Nepal Countryside, January 22, 2008
- Rural Radio Promotes Democracy in Nepal Amid Continuing Uncertainty Over Elections, November 7, 2007
- Dalit Journalists Expose Caste Discrimination in Nepal's Villages as National Dalit Protests Escalate, August 14, 2007
- Uterus Damage Condemns Women to Sickness and Stigma in Rural Nepal, August 2, 2007
- Torture Remains Widespread in Democratic Nepal, Warn Advocates, July 13, 2007
- Nepalese Dalit Break with the Government and Demand 20 Percent Share of New Assembly Seats, June 26, 2007
- Nepalis Abroad Demand the Right to Vote in June Elections, March 12, 2007
- Protest Rally in Nepal Follows Beating of 60 Dalit Trying to Worship in a Hindu Temple, September 21, 2006
- Dalit Diaspora Calls for 20 Percent Dalit Representation in New Nepal Government, September 1, 2006
- Dalit Advocacy in Nepal Spurs the UN to Investigate Discrimination at the Water Pump, August 7, 2006
- Death in Nepal – A Human Rights Monitor Blogs from the Frontlines, April 24, 2006
- Human Rights Monitor Beaten and Disabled People Detained as Nepalese Regime Seeks to Suppress Democracy Protests, April 7, 2006
- Mass Arrests as Nepal Slips Back into Repression and Violence, January 19, 2006
- Dalit Women Accused of Witchcraft, Forced to Eat Excrement, January 19, 2006
- Dalit Advocates Fight Prejudice and Superstition in Villages of Nepal, October 27, 2005
- Death Squad Warning As Repression in Nepal Deepens, April 25, 2005
- 200 Nepalese Activists Flee to India as Emergency Deepens in Nepal, February 14, 2005
- Nepali Civil Society Plans Public Protest as Arrests, Torture and Intimidation Follow ‘King’s Coup,' February 8, 2005
- Nepalese Civil Society Launches International Network, December 8, 2004
- US Veto Undermines UN Support for Human Rights Monitoring by Civil Society in Nepal, April 27, 2004
- AP's Nepalese Partner Coordinates Human Rights Monitoring as Police Injure Hundreds In Pro-Democracy Protests, April 8, 2004
- Nepal: Human Rights Leader and AP Partner Assaulted, January 21, 2004
- Nepal: Candlelight Rallies Kick Off National Campaign Against Disappearances, August 26, 2003
- Nigeria
- Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel
- Peru
- Russia
- Serbia
- Sri Lanka
- Trinidad
- Uganda
- United Kingdom
- Vietnam
- Other
- By Issue
- By Date
- Newsletters
- Multimedia
- Global Issues
- AP Diaries and Staff Blogs
Translate this page:
Dalit "Witches" Face Extreme Violence in Nepal's Villages, April 3, 2009
*****
AdvocacyNet
News Bulletin 180
April 3, 2009
*****
Dalit "Witches" Face Extreme Violence in Nepal's Villages
April 3, 2009, Pyutar, Nepal: Advocates for the Dalit in Nepal are calling for government action to stop attacks against lower-caste women accused of witchcraft, following the brutal beating of a 45-year-old woman and her family.
The incident occurred March 20 in the Lalitpur District of Nepal, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) outside of Kathmandu. Kalli Kumari Bishwokarma, a Dalit, was accused of witchcraft, attacked, and forced to eat excrement.
The case has been taken up by the Jagaran Media Center (JMC) a leading advocate for Dalit rights and a partner of The Advocacy Project (AP). It has caused an uproar, and shows clearly that caste discrimination persists in the new, democratic Nepal, despite being formally outlawed in the interim constitution.
When JMC journalists heard about the case, they traveled to the village with a Dalit Constituent Assembly member, as well as representatives from the National Dalit Commission, National Women's Commission, and human rights organizations. Villagers tried to attack the team with stones and sticks, but the journalists were able to rescue Ms Kumari BK, her husband Chet Bahadur, and their 17-year-old daughter.
The family is now staying at a shelter in Kathmandu run by a women's rights organization. JMC officials are pushing for the arrest of the attackers and calling on Nepal's elected officials, human rights groups, and civil society to demand justice for the victims.
Ms Kumari BK told her harrowing story to the press at the National Women's Commission, and has received coverage in newspapers, and on radio and television channels.
Her ordeal started, she said, when Bimala Lama, the headmistress of a local primary school, accused her of practicing witchcraft. Ms Lama and a group of villagers locked up Ms Kumari BK and her husband for two days, and tortured the couple until Ms Kumari BK "admitted" she was a witch.
Ms Kumari BK was kicked, punched, hit with stones, and forced to eat excrement while Ms Lama and other villagers told her that "Witches should be killed like this," according to a JMC report. The villagers also threatened to kill her husband if he spoke up in her defense.
Eventually, Ms Kumari BK gave in: "I accepted myself as a witch when they opted to chop my breasts using blades," she said.
Ms Kumari BK's case follows a disturbing pattern in villages across Nepal. JMC reported on a similar case in 2006, when a 52-year-old Dalit woman and her daughter were beaten and forced to eat feces in the village of Sunsari.
In a February report on human rights in Nepal, the US State Department noted that traditional beliefs about witchcraft still hold sway, and that shamans and local leaders commonly practice violence against suspected witches. The report described the case of Makharin Khatun, an elderly woman from Birgunj who was accused of witchcraft and fed excrement.
"Khatun lodged a report with the police, but in the absence of a law prohibiting such actions, the perpetrators were set free on bail," the report stated. "Similar incidents were seen in other parts of the country. There was no government mechanism to prevent such abuses or provide compensation to the abused."
Although Ms Kumari BK's case was also reported to police and widely covered in the media, the people responsible for her torture have not been apprehended. Police officials in Lalitpur District claim their attempts to find and arrest the culprits have been foiled by protesting villagers. On April 2, Nepal's acting Prime Minister and Home Minister, Bam Dev Gautam, said that the government will take stern action against those involved, and issue arrest warrants.
The JMC, National Women's Coalition, and Dalit civil society groups have formed a committee to put pressure on the police and local government, and to assist in resettling the family.
- Read the JMC report
- Learn more about the Dalit journalists
Back