Honour killing comes to Nepal

KATHMANDU: When D K Bahadur Thapa Magar of Nepal's remote Okhaldhunga district fell in love with Parbati Danuwar of Kavre, close to Kathmandu, the match was fiercely opposed by Parbati's father Niraraj as the young man belonged to a different caste.

Though the couple still married against the wishes of their families, five days ago, the match ended in stark tragedy with police finding the 29-year-old groom hanging from the rafters of his rented room in Kathmandu. At first it was thought to be a case of suicide but investigations showed the dead man had been fatally wounded with sharp objects. Now, police have arrested the 47-year-old father-in-law, charging him with murdering his son-in-law.

Honour killings, rife in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, have now begun to be reported in Nepal as well, at a time in a bizarre coincidence, most of the major theatres in Kathmandu valley are showing films on honour-killing.

"In Nepal, the caste system is very deep rooted," says Ramesh Kharel, superintendent of police in Kathmandu. "There were repeated instances of the father-in-law threatening to kill the son-in-law because he came from another caste. Then last week, the father-in-law, who had been drinking to rustle up courage for the deed, attacked the victim with beer bottles and knives and after he died, strung up his body to make it look like suicide."

Though honour killings in Nepal have gone undetected mostly, Kharel says this is not the first such murder. "Nor will this be the last," he says. Police records show complaints filed by families whose daughters eloped with men from other castes, accusing them of kidnapping.

Thapa Magar's murder comes as there has been a spate of honour-killings in India. Some of them have found a recent mention in Nepal, including the murder of New Delhi-based journalist Nirupama Pathak, with the release of Bollywood director Priyadarshan's new film Aakrosh that despite its reported lacklustre showing in India is playing to packed theatres in Kathmandu. The story, in which fact and fiction coalesce seamlessly, is being thronged by crowds despite the lull in other businesses due to Dashain, Nepal's biggest festival corresponding to India's Dussehra.

Some of the same theatres that are screening Aakrosh are also showing "Kasle choryo mero man" (Who stole my heart), a love story between a poor boy and a rich girl from the aristocratic Rana clan that ruled Nepal with an iron hand for over a century. Though Samir Shrestha's film has a happy ending, the storyline however sees the enraged father hiring contract killers to do away with the penniless suitor while trying to marry off his errant daughter into a well-heeled family.

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