#MeToo in Nepal: Yet another case of sexual assault allegation comes to the surface

A victim makes public the details of how the perpetrator, her school principal, raped and blackmailed her for two years and yet nobody believed her.

NL Today

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Kathmandu: A new case of sexual assault allegations has surfaced yet again in the aftermath of the infamy of a girl’s case

Raped as a minor, the survivor has said her school teacher raped and blackmailed her for two years at a school in Itahari, an eastern city of Nepal. 

‘I used to live in a hostel and I was [studying] in grade nine when it all started,’ the survivor said in a lengthy post on social media. It was seven years ago and she was around 15 years old when the incident took place. When facing a chest problem, the victim’s father sent money for her treatment to the principal’s bank account rather than her mother’s bank account, which he continued to do so for all transactions in the future, said the victim.

Her parents fully trusted the principal, which he used for his benefit. The victim was then taken to a hotel instead of a hospital, where her principal brutally raped her, according to the victim. “And it continued for 2 years until my SEE,” she wrote.

The victim said, “the principal told my parents that if I go home my study may degrade so it was better for me to stay at the hostel.” She had to remain in the hostel even during vacations, and he would abuse her often.

The victim wrote that she tried to tell her friends and even the principal’s wife about what was happening to her, but due to her being outspoken and outgoing, nobody believed her. “Everyone used to blame my character. Nobody trusted me that I was a victim, nobody took a stand for me,” she has mentioned in the post.

When she didn’t get justice even after coming clean about her abuse to her family and the police, the victim says she made many attempts to take her own life. But countless visits to the police couldn’t help her find her rapist. “My case is still in process, they said. When I used to follow up, the police said they were still searching for the rapist. It’s been seven years already, where is the rapist?” she wrote.

Seeing the public solidarity against the recent revealed case, the victim felt maybe she could get some semblance of justice as well. According to what she had heard, the abuser was a principal at another school in Kathmandu. “Today, with the hope of getting justice, I’m sharing my story which has been with me for seven long years,” she said.