| Username |
Post |
| Biswo |
Posted
on 30-Oct-03 09:02 PM
In a dusty road of Narayanghat, one evening last summer, I saw an otherwise nondescript pregnant woman walking unsteadily. She walked to the center of the Narayani bridge and then jumped from the bridge to the river about 80 feet below. Midway to the water, her body lost balance, as I watched her in horror, and she horizontally hit the water. Due to the Maoist problem, few people were walking in the city that day, shops were being closed, and it seemed to me very few really noticed. I went to the police post nearby and talked about this with an Assistant Subinspector(ASI). His jawan was dismissive of me at first, but I threw in my US-returned qualification, and told him that I was doing some research about Narayani. Then he led me to the aforementioned ASI, but on his way he asked me two questions: whether I own a car in USA and whether it is true that even a janitor owns a car in USA. When I told him yes, the janitor owns a car in USA except probably in expensive cities, he looked very surprised. The ASI promised that he would call me as soon as the corpse of the lady was found out.
Two days later he called me. We went to the small chapel-like morgue in Bharatpur hospital in his motorbike. Her corpse was discovered somewhere down near Rampur, he told me. We saw in the morgue that her eyes were eaten away most probably by crabs. Her body had already started to decay, and she had left no identification, but,of course, the dead child who would otherwise have been her son, and a citizen of Nepal.I asked the doctor who knew about the post mortem what would be sought in the dissection. He said the primary purpose would be to find out whether the case was suicide or homicide. I never had any doubt about the test result. So, I asked him whether that was all that a postmortem purports to do.
"No" he said. "We try to do a lot.In some cases,for some more serious study, we send samples to the RONAST lab. In some cases, like Madan Bhandari's and Jivaraj Ashrit's, the viscera was even sent to a lab in London."
"How frequently do we find the corpse?" I asked the ASI.
"Not that frequently, at all. There is no division of Nepal Police that looks after this issue. I know a lot of old men who are missing are never found, and the reason is because once you jump down the river, you are forgotten. You are eaten by crocodiles and all other crazy fishes, and your skeleton don't tell the story to anyone."
I asked the ASI how he would describe the fate of the people who are submerged in Trishuli when the buses slip down to the river. Last year alone, as I understood, there was a bus that slipped down with more than fifty people, and their corpses, with the exception of a few,were never recovered.
"No one goes to recover the bus for a few days. You know 'they' talk all about bringing in Bangladeshi 'gotaakhor', but the gotaakhors have done only little so far. For a few days, the rivers are so daunting that no one really goes down to look for these people. Sometimes, people just get trapped inside the river, die there without going out, being eaten away, and their skeleton just starts rolling in the direction of water. You may never find them."
"Think about this," The ASI who companied me to the hospital told me, "Even Safari Hotel do have lifeboys near their swimming pool, but the government doesn't have a rescue team in Narayani above which nation's lifeline of transportation runs. I work near Narayani, and I know that even if someone is thrown to Narayani from above, no one goes to rescue the victim. It is so shocking. We don't value the human life in our country. It is so sad."
Reverting back to the original suiciders, I was disturbed by the suicide of the lady for a few days, and then I went to the Kathmandu. In Kathmandu, the gender distribution of suicider remains same as that of Chitwan, but the modus operandi varies greatly."In Tribhuvan University Hospital", an assistant professor with the teaching hospital and now a fellow in Texas Medical Center told me,"most of the suicides that we look into are committed by unmarried pregnant women. " The trend was similar in Patan Hospital, another doctor who was my former roommate told me." It is so sad that these women die so miserably."
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 30-Oct-03 09:03 PM
continued...
The popular suicide mean in Kathmandu remains the gulping in of a pesticide. A particular liquid pesticide is hugely popular among the suiciders and it has 90% hit rate.(name of pesticide withheld for obvious reason) according to the TU assistant professor.(I didn't ask them whether they wanted to be named , so the names are withheld.)Other suicide modes like eating diamond, or cutting wrists are very rare now. "Despite the fact that all that the suiciders want is attention, they take huge risk by gulping in the pesticides." the professor told me." Alot of those who commit suicide would have chosen to live had they been given better care.A lot of them commit suicide though they don't want to commit suicide. All they want is someone who comes to them and say they want these people alive. By choosing lethal pesticide, they are not allowing others any chance to say kind words, eventhough they may be seeking exactly that."
Back in Chitwan, the doctor told me later that the lady's corpse was yet to be claimed. "People don't want to associate themselves with the suiciders." He confided to me. "This lady died miserably. Her ribs were broken, and her cerebral spinal fluid had come out of her ear. When she touched the water, she did it very violently. She jumped from so above and in such a position that frontal crash was what happened. She could have survived if she only had jumped in leg-first jump. I think her son probably died before her."
Was that the shame that prompted so many women like her to take refuge to suicide? I tried to understand the general attitude of Nepali women in my informal discussion. Most of the old women in deed thought that the women who were pregnant before marriage were disgraceful and probably deserved something as horrible as painful suicide. The element of sympathy towards these women is more or less same among the adult women too.In fact, Nepalese women are more conservative than men. I read interviews in 'saataaki grihini' of Saptahik, and I find that most of the women interviewed there do oppose equal right of inheritance of women, and other freedom of women. In Nepal, men are definitely more equal than women.
Often there are doctors specializing in abortion, and these doctors are supposed to keep everything secret. They may be honest, but they may also be dishonest. Honest doctors don't break the rule at the first place. Among women, it is poor ones who are bearing the brunt of these difficulties. Providing a safe option to legitimately abort the unwanted should be our major goal. It is so sad that people are comfortable to see these women die with their kids, but don't want the yet unformed kid alone to be terminated. Some talk about culture: what culture? When people are dying, what is more overriding issue: culture or life? And if a raped women commits suicide, she may actually be letting one criminal roam around in the society and causing more harm to the society. We need to protect these women for the safety of our own society.By hesitating to legalize the abortion, the nation has subjected these women to the caprice of either these doctors or the wayward boys who were once their bedfellows, but were no more.More and more women seem to be finding both these alternatives more despicable than the third alternative: death, eventhough that may be very painful one.
[Note: Some of the incidents mentioned in this posting are fictitious and are added to enforce the view of the poster.]
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| Bhunte |
Posted
on 30-Oct-03 09:20 PM
Interesting statistics in the story...
>>>>>>The ASI who companied me to the hospital told me,....We don't value the human life in our country. It is so sad." <<<<<<<
That's true.
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| jobs1 |
Posted
on 30-Oct-03 10:59 PM
Hi Biswo,
Interesting article. You bring out some critical points that needs to be adressed in our country. But every reform brings advantages and disadvantages. I totally agree with you when you say "We don't value the human life in our country", and " "Even Safari Hotel do have lifeboys near their swimming pool, but the government doesn't have a rescue team in Narayani above which nation's lifeline of transportation runs" the second point is really sad.
But as far as your point for women getting pregnant before marriage goes, I oppose that too. You may be thinking I am a narrow minded person. But the reason I oppose is more economical and on reagards to how prepared the people of Nepal are to handle this issue. I totally agree with abortion for raped women, but abortion resulting from carelessness made by people for pleasure is a No No from my prespective atleast for now. Our culture ( or one may call it narrow mind) doesn't allow for pre-martial sex. Its a Taboo in Nepal, which is I think good from a few prespective.
The reasons:
Do we want to face Single-mother problems and teenage pregnancy ? Is our country prepared to take the burden of these forms of welfare? A country like the US has a hard time and is always a hot discusion here, so how can or will Nepal cope up with this ? A country (Nepal) where people have a hard time choosing the right leader due to illiteracy issues: Can they make correct and practical decisions about safe sex ? When its a Taboo we have so many pregnancies, what could be the result if its wasn't a Taboo? Could result in a population explosion.
These are just the questions I had in mind, and I would appreciate if you bring in good points that could change it. I firmly beleive that as humans we could do anything we want as long as it doesn't harm anyone else. As for now I don't think Nepal is prepared for it.
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| hukka |
Posted
on 30-Oct-03 11:17 PM
May be some of you need to spend some time here in Kathmandu and rub little bit your US credentials.
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| L-a-x |
Posted
on 30-Oct-03 11:41 PM
good one biswa ji
btw, which is your pic in that sajha gathering pic?
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| ru |
Posted
on 31-Oct-03 12:42 AM
the most striking part of the whole writing was the part in which US affiliation changed the tone of the police officer...that is as sad as true...so often jumbled up with "imperialistic mentality", I guess this is one reason that we're still behind...cause we don't respect our own people and the more alien one can prove the more the respect one gets....comments please.
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| RBaral |
Posted
on 31-Oct-03 05:47 AM
Very touchy.
>The ASI promised that he would call me as soon as the corpse
>of the lady was found out.
>
>Two days later he called me. We went to the small
>chapel-like morgue in Bharatpur hospital in his motorbike.
>Her corpse was discovered somewhere down near Rampur, he told
>me. We saw in the morgue that her eyes were eaten away
>most probably by crabs.
Out of curiosity, who were the ones to pull the corpse out of Narayanhiti? Did the cops do it?
Thank you Biswo, for bringing life to sajha with so deliate issues of our society.
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 31-Oct-03 08:37 AM
jobs1 wrote:
"Do we want to face Single-mother problems and teenage pregnancy ? Is our country prepared to take the burden of these forms of welfare? "
Here is my counterquestion: do we want would be mom to die like they are doing in Kathmandu these days, assuming what I learnt to be true?
We talk about culture. I ask what culture? Our culture has a lot of good things and bad things. If we had sticked with our culture all the time, polygamy and bonded labor would have not been outlawed by now.
Let's face it: the only entertainment a lot of married people can afford now in Nepal is sex. And for unmarried people, that is also unavailable. Since demand for such things always exists, there are bound to be some instances where people slip in their judgement. Let the women learn from her mistake. Just one mistake and paying for it by her life?
Hukka,
Actually, in KTM, they don't care a lot about your US-returnee credential. Outside, it still matters.
Lax,
I was not in sajha gethering in Kathmandiu.
Ru,
Yea, actually that was rather stereotype. I mean, I am pretty sure a lot of Nepali behave like that, and ask the questions that the police jawan supposedly asked. Of course, we seem to love this alien thing, and the more alien we can prove of being alien, the better it is for us in some parts of our country.
And when you go home, you can feel that right from immigration. While you will be presumed guilty until the sniff out your bags and find you are innocent, the foreigners are treated a lot better even if they are carrying bags of hashish themselves.
RBaral,
The report of Taranath Ranabhat commission actually implies that the army did the job, if I remember it correctly. There was an instance when a army jawan discovered the pistol near Dipendra's body, and threw it away to the stream flowing below(how untrained, and stupid he was! of course, he shouldn't have handled the homicide case in the first place!). I noticed it because people were very suspicious of the account that no weapons were found near Dipendra, though he was supposed to have committed suicide.
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| najar |
Posted
on 31-Oct-03 08:54 AM
Biswo,
Thanks for sharing the story--the expanded version is even more touching. As i said before, sad yet a bitter truth that so many women go through. what i fail to conceptualize is why do a man, an equal participant of the deal get away with it while the woman ends up in a catastrophe, at time even losing her life. Hopefully our generation brings sensitization of the matter and be little fair to women.
Also, whats worse these days is that with increased migration, men working across the border may bring home STDS infecting the innocent wives waiting for them, and subsequently a mother to an unborn child, not to mention having to bear the stigma together with looking after the ailing, infected family.
Similarly, an unpublished work i read said--70% of IDU street children in kathmandu are HIV+
who is to blame for? look after?.............
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| Arnico |
Posted
on 31-Oct-03 09:37 AM
Biswo. Thanks for sharing that. Moving piece. Really does its job in convincing people about the need for legalized abortion (not that I needed convincing in the first place).
I am curious though whether you'd be able to let us know what parts of the story are completely true, and what parts of it are reality-based fiction to make the point.
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| Gunaraj |
Posted
on 31-Oct-03 10:32 AM
Biswoji,
I was wondering how you could manage to see all these things in your short stay in Chitwan.... ehehe, your last line ruined it. I can guess which parts in your posting are real and which ones you made up to support things. Though, I have several real accounts of suicidal jump from the bridge over the river.
When it comes to rescue suiciders from the river, it's the people doing the job. I didn't see a single police escourting the five day marathoon effort to find the corpse of my 'Mama' who jumped from the bridge after escaping the his own brother and my father while coming back from Bharatpur hospital. (He had been disturbed psychologically, and so many super-natural things had happened in the previous year or so that led to this condition: a different account on why people commit suicide). Finally, his remains could only be identified with the tiny piece of cloth that was still on the no-flesh-skeleton-like body.
When Hitler committed suicide, nobody bothered to find him. (Hitlar was a nick name given by us for his behavior to his children/grand children while he was living near the canteen of our college. He was about 65-70 yrs old, always coughing loudly and making comments and giving commands to the people. One fine afternoon, he took a tempo from Rampur to Narayangarh, then a ricksaw when he reached there. As narrated by the sad ricksaw puller later, Hitler asked him to take him to Gaindakot. While halfway to the bridge, Hitler asked him to stop so that he could through some flower to the river. He left his Askot and a pair of sandles on the bridge and crawled quickly under the supporting bar while the ricksaw-puller smoked his cigarette while waiting for him to come back. One more life ended quietly. What the ricksaw-puller could do was only to file a report in the nearby chauki that would be burried under the misil-filing-system.
Regarding the effort of police to find corpses, even when Madan Bhandari and Jibaraj Ashrit were swept away from Dashdhunga to all the way below Gunjanagar, it was the people who did the job. People kept vigilance all along the river. Police were informed of the progress after their body was found. We took the bamboo stick from the police and carried the whole-large boat from the river to the place where a tractor could go and fetch it. (although people did it out of their respect to the leaders, I did not see any active role of police in this event too). Then there were no army (not required) and police was limited to prepare the muchulka only.
Nobody will care for the unfortunate pregnant girl, a pychological disturbed household head, a depressed elderly, a failed student, or a low-living ricksaw-puller who might be frustrated with life and jumped from the bridge. If you jump from the bridge when your family members are only 10 feet away, then you are likely to be rescued near-death or your body recovered sooner... Otherwise, you just vanish in the cold, turbid, floods flowing down to the south.
Several really sad stories I have come across while living just a couple of miles from the bridge. I have been sentimental now....
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| Gunaraj |
Posted
on 31-Oct-03 10:34 AM
through = throw
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 31-Oct-03 10:36 AM
Najar,
Thanks for your kind words. I don't doubt that stree workers are in grave dangers. I mean, think about this, they are harrassed rather than protected by police, and sex predators think they are fair game. Often, their behaviour deviates away from normalcy since their tender age, and as they grow up they grow up full of vengeance against the society, since they think they have nothing to be grateful of it.Who should take care of them? I guess: the rest of the us.
Arnico,
That is a tricky question. I will be happy to answer that in email:-)
Actually, "I" was used in stead of some third person a few times, and incidences related to the suicide in Narayani are "artificially" connected.
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 31-Oct-03 10:45 AM
Gandhiji,
Actually I tried to call you yesterday night to ask something while writing this piece. I knew you could provide me more information about the 'cast away' corpses near Rampur. I am glad that you provided some more anecdotes here.I think it is so sad that there are no rescue personnels in Narayani, while the need could not be graver.
When I think about my own village, I know at least one old person, disgruntled with the way his offsprings treated him, vanished suddenly. Now, a person can vanish for a few months, but years have passed, yet we have no information from him and I think it is reasonable to assume that the person should have at least one family member who was very kind to him, and who the person would like to know about him if he were alive. Such vanishing stories are so aplenty in the miserably poor neighborhoods that you wonder what happened to these people. Well, Narayani explains a lot.
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| Gunaraj |
Posted
on 31-Oct-03 11:13 AM
hahaha, Biswoji... A bitter experience to catch me. Most of the time, my telephone is busy with the internet when I am home. Dial-up connection ma palai palo baba ra chhori base pachhi telephone khali hune bhaye po.... I guess I need to switch to university network now.
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| peda |
Posted
on 31-Oct-03 03:16 PM
Abortion in women is a touchy and controversial issue.
It is also a huge 'money-spinning' industry in Nepal. A lot of 'pseudo-doctors' and agents make a huge sum of money out of it.
Having worked in health sector in Nepal before, I used to come across a large no of women in death bed following a bad infection(sepsis) caused by unhygenic abortion.As you know Nepal is one of the few countries where the life span of women is less than that of men. These aborion deaths and deaths during child birth are probably the main reasons.
Legalising abortion would help in these matter though it may not solve the problem in its entirety.The education and 'removing social taboos' should play major roles.
The other thing is the issue of education and contraception. This will not solve the problem, but maybe lessen it to some extent.
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| Prajesh |
Posted
on 31-Oct-03 03:39 PM
Biswo Ji,
Thanks for sharing the reality (I couldn't call it a STORY because we have seen this happen so many times). From Nigeria to Nepal it's the women who suffer the result of sex outside the wedlock be it consensual or forced, it has happened before, is happening now and will happen in the future where men are more equal than the women. I wonder if anyone has done any research (reg. the correlation between pregnancy before marriage and suicide) in some community in Nepal (I think it's in Karnali Aanchal) and in Northeastern part of India where the offspring are identified by the Mother's name.
Have a good weekend and happy Halloween!
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 31-Oct-03 05:08 PM
Pedaji,
You are right about the plight of women. I mean after an unwanted pregnancy, the man swaggers outside freely while the women is made desperate enough to commit suicide. A lot of men, rapists or quasi-rapists, know that the day they agree to 'accept' the kid and the women, they are free of any other sentences. That is the maximum sentence they can expect. In most of the villages, that is maximum sentence the male is handed out in Nepal. But women ,if she is "lucky", is spared of indignity by being married off to the same person who is unwilling to marry her, or is hurled stigma for her life.Her life is made miserable.
Prajeshji,
Thanks for your kind comments. I hope that though "it happened before, it is happening now" , it won't happen in the future.
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| Bhunte |
Posted
on 31-Oct-03 06:00 PM
do we have ethnic statistics of the rape related crime in Nepal?
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 31-Oct-03 06:54 PM
Bhunteji,
Nepal police do have some data on rape, but not ethnic data.
Interestingly , I read the following news in kantipuronline.com just now. Way to go Sapanaji.
--
SC petition for safe abortion rights
KOL Report
KATHMANDU, Nov 1 - A writ petition has been filed at the Supreme Court pleading the apex court for issuing an order to the government and the Health Ministry to formulate policies,
regulations and directives needed to ensure womens right to safe abortion.
In the writ filed by advocate Sapana Pradhan Malla, the petition has established that though abortion has been legalised, women are continuing to be deprived of their rights to safe abortion since the government has delayed and ignored to formulate the necessary policies, regulations and directives for safe abortion.
Nepal legalised abortion by amending the Civil Code (11th amendment) 19 months ago, and with the subsequent endorsement of the bill 11 months ago.
The writ petitioner has also alleged that at least eight women are currently facing abortion cases even though the bill became effective one year ago.
The government, the Prime Minister, the Health Ministry and its Department of Health and Family Health Division have been made defendants in the case. (snn)
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| Bhunte |
Posted
on 31-Oct-03 07:12 PM
Biswo, thanks for the info. Have you tried if individual files can be assessed for a research from the district police offices for the crime related research for any given year?
Yes, Sapana has been doing good for women in Nepal...
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