National
Deputy mayor frees husband detained for assaulting her
Deputy Mayor of the Godavari Municipality Muna Adhikari visited the Satdobato Police Circle in Lalitpur on Wednesday to release her husband, Dhurva Kunwar, who had been arrested the night before after she called police on him for assaulting her.Anup Ojha
Deputy Mayor of the Godavari Municipality Muna Adhikari visited the Metropolitan Police Circle, Jawlakhel in Lalitpur on Wednesday to release her husband, Dhurva Kunwar, who had been arrested the night before after she called police on him for assaulting her.
A police team from Bode Gaun had arrested Dhurva from his house on Tuesday night after receiving domestic violence complaint from Deputy Mayor Muna.
But Dhurva was released on Wednesday before police could file any charge against him, all thanks to his wife whom he had beaten black and blue.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Narendra Chand said Deputy Mayor Muna arrived at Satdobato Police Circle with a swollen left eye on Wednesday and requested for her husband’s release.
“Deputy Mayor Muna came to us and said that she and her husband had had a minor dispute on Tuesday night. We freed him after he signed a paper promising not to repeat similar behaviour,” DSP Chand said.
The incident has drawn attention and condemnation from women rights groups.
When a woman like Deputy Mayor Muna becomes the victim of domestic violence and then she goes to the police requesting to release her abusive husband, it speaks volumes about how far our society is steeped in patriarchy, said Renu Adhikari, president of Women’s Rehabilitation Centre (Worec).
“It is our patriarchal society that forced her to go to the police for her husband’s release. Had she not done so, there would be no way for her to live in this society as a dignified, independent woman,” Adhikari said.
Adhikari reckons there are thousands of women in the country who are going through various kinds of abuses on daily basis but cannot speak up against them because of the way our society is structured.
“Law alone cannot solve the incidents of violence against women. The mentality of people should change to end these toxic social practices,” she said.
Violence against women and girls is one of the most widespread, persistent and devastating human right.
The UN report of 2016 showed that one in seven women in Nepal experienced physical and sexual violence form their intimate partner.