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Why Nepal’s government have banned online pornography

Critics of the ban have already spoken out.

Critics of the ban have already spoken out. Photo: Getty

Nepal’s government has announced it is banning online pornography, in a move that has been widely ridiculed as an ineffective way of combating violence against women.

The Himalayan nation has been shocked by a recent spate of vicious sex attacks against young girls, including the rape and murder of two schoolgirls, and an acid attack on two teenage sisters as they slept in their bed.

Data from Nepal’s Central Child Welfare Board reveals that 60 per cent of rape victims in Nepal are girls under 16. One-third of them were below the age of ten.

In July, 13-year-old schoolgirl Nirmala Panta was raped and murdered in far west Nepal, triggering local and then national protests when police were accused of covering-up for the suspect.

Nirmala’s parents publicly appealed for justice, and the hashtag #JusticeForNirmala has been trending in Nepal.

Last month, a 10-year-old girl was raped and choked to death — five men were arrested over the crime.

Also in September, teenage sisters Samjhana and Sushmita Das were attacked with acid by a neighbour as they slept in bed.

Suffering severe burns, they were driven for seven hours from their village to a hospital in Kathmandu.

Their neighbour, Rambabu Paswa, accompanied the family to hospital where he was interviewed by local media.

“[Samjhana] had just straightened her hair a few days ago, and was looking very pretty, I cannot believe she will not look like that anymore,” Mr Paswa told local reporters.

But 18-year-old Samjhana confided to her father that Mr Paswa was the attacker.

She said he would often call her and propose sex, which she refused.

Police found Mr Paswa had made 180 calls to Samjhana in the two weeks before the attack.

Mr Paswa was arrested by police, and Samjhana died of her injuries not long after, 10 days after being attacked.

Porn ban reaction

There are doubts that banning online porn will have any effect on reducing violence against women in Nepal, according to Shubha Kayastha from the Internet Society Nepal.

“It is merely a diversionary tactic to hide the government’s incompetence in prosecuting rapists,” she said.

Ms Kayastha, who is also a sexual rights activist, said the porn ban is protectionist.

“A better approach to addressing sexual violence would be to empower people and respect their sexual agency, and punish the perpetrators of sex crimes,” she said.

“Instead of censoring materials on the internet, the government should direct its attention towards ending impunity instead of trying to find quick-fixes.”

Anup Kaphle, editor of The Kathmandu Post newspaper, wrote on Twitter that Nepal’s government was “filled with officials who have nothing but lame, unoriginal ideas, including banning porn sites to prevent incidents of rape.

The Indian government attempted to enact a pornography ban in 2015, but was forced to lift its ban after just a week, due to public outrage and concerns about free expression.

Rape cases in neighbouring India have been in the headlines worldwide since the 2012 gang-rape of a university student on a New Delhi bus, but the reported number of violent sex crimes against women and girls is also increasing in Nepal.

– ABC

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