Hundreds of Nepalis stage mock funeral in protest after teenager’s rape and murder

Name: Nepal’s political crisis deepens as Prime Minister Oli is ejected from ruling Communist Party
Uploaded: 2021-02-12T17:38:19.000Z
Duration: 1 min 55 s
Description: Nepal’s political crisis deepens as Prime Minister Oli is ejected from ruling Communist Party

In Kathmandu, demonstrators carried a young woman on a bamboo stretcher to symbolise the victims who lose their lives to such crimes

Several people wrapped black cloth around their eyes to symbolically protest against the government turning a blind eye to the spate of cases

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Activists stage a mock funeral during a protest against rape in Kathmandu on Friday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Agence France-Presse

Published: 1:38am, 13 Feb 2021Updated: 9:26pm, 13 Feb 2021

Hundreds of Nepalis staged a mock funeral procession in the capital Kathmandu on Friday after the rape and murder of a teenage girl drew attention to a rise in sexual assault cases.

Bhagirathi Bhatta, 17, went missing on Thursday last week while she was going home from school. Her body was found a day later in a gorge near her village in Baitadi district in Western Nepal.

An initial investigation by police found that she had been raped and then strangled.

At the protest in Kathmandu, demonstrators dressed in white mourning clothes carried a young woman on a bamboo stretcher to symbolise the victims who lose their lives to such violent crimes.

Others followed, calling for an end to violence against women and justice for victims as they marched.

Several people wrapped black cloth around their eyes to symbolically protest the government turning a blind eye to the spate of cases.

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Nepal’s political crisis deepens as Prime Minister Oli is ejected from ruling Communist Party

“We are here to challenge and pressure the government … The murderer has to be brought out to the streets, has to be punished,” said protester Rekha Thapa.