Nirmala Panta, a 13-year-old girl from Nepal, was raped and murdered in a sugarcane field near her home on July 27, 2018. She went missing after going to her friend's house to study, but she never came back. This unexpected tragedy awakened countries all over the world, as cases like Nirmala, keep increasing. As this news spreads worldwide, it proves how unsafe it is for women in Nepal. Furthermore, Panta's case was closed because the leading officers had tampered with evidence, leaving Panta's parents with nothing but her dead body. More than a dozen investigations were formed to solve her case, demanding the perpetrators to be caught and be held accountable. But a year later, the issue remains unsolved. This incident had triggered the public across the country in many ways.

Many protests began to demand action against the police officers for their negligence and the arrest of the perpetrator/s. The social media burst into rage and initiated silent protest through 'hashtag justice for Nirmala' (#justiceforNepal) On the other hand, the government had been giving the enforcement orders not to let any media run any related news on Panta's rape and murder. Law enforcement in Nepal is broken. Their system is set for systemic failure meaning they have methods and protocols that they are not following to keep their country safe. Though Nepal is ranked 2nd among the 6 South Asian countries in the overall rule of law performance, they are not justifying those who are harmed in any way.
There are many cases like Nirmala Panta's case who did not get justice; there are many more cases where hundreds of deaths are in police custody. As many deaths occur in Police custody, there seem to be patterns seen as Negligence, Alleged Abuse, and Impunity. The Police any abuse and negligence; people's voices are being ignored by the government.  Since 2015 to June 2020 some of the deaths that took places in police Custody, Police have claimed that most of these deaths had been "suicide":

1) Tejas Darai, Age 17 On June 26, 2015, detainee fell unconscious and died

2)Tik Bahadur Rai, Age 39 On May 2016 he was released from custody bearing severe injuries, died within 24 hours

3) Priyanka Yadav, Age October 16 29, 2017. Police reported suicide; rights groups decried mistreatment of minor in custody

4) Ram Kandel, Age 28. On November 17, 2019, Police said he "fell off a cliff while running away," suspected torture.

There are so many more incidents that have been unheard because they are scared they will not get justice, but it's time we take a stand. It's time we get justice for those who died in the hands of law enforcement and for those who are unheard.

Here's what we can do/what's happening :

They have found evidence of the culprit responsible for the death of Nirmala Panta; within months, the criminal will be faced with charges. In the meantime, the government needs to provide all public and private schools with sex educations. Students lack knowledge of necessary information, which is why many rape cases are rising. One of the reasons, many rapes incidents have been unheard/ unjustified is because politics are involved. In almost every case, politics are involved; Politics should not be involved in cases like these or any for that matter. They should be adding security cameras, providing self-defense classes for girls, teaching boys what "NO" means in school; most importantly, we need to make sure women are safe in this country. We need to build trust between the government and its citizens. We need to demand making new regulations and new systems strictly applied and followed by citizens and the government.

I am filing this petition to make sure these voices are heard. I am sincerely requesting all of you to read and sign this petition to ensure our unity against the broken law enforcement to take it seriously.