Collective failure

A troubling lack of consent awareness among Nepali boys points to a deeply flawed education system.

A harrowing incident last month of two teenage girls from ward 8 of Dhakari Rural Municipality in Achham district being killed by a pair of teenage boys has shaken Nepal. The girls, who had gone to a nearby forest to herd goats, were bludgeoned to death for refusing physical intercourse with their lovers, as suggested by early police investigation. The boys were reported to be involved in coercion, asking the girls to have physical relations with them, with the assurance that they would marry after five or six years. This is not an isolated case of juveniles’ involvement in sexual crimes. In September last year, the District Court in Udayapur sentenced a 15-year-old boy to 14 days for raping a three-year-old girl. Similarly, in March last year, two young boys were arrested on the charge of raping a five-year-old girl. The list, unfortunately, goes on and on.