Secretary of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Parashwar Dhungana, has said that it is an established norm that laws will be made after witness examination. In a panel discussion organized by the Forum for Women, Law and Development (FWLD) on Sunday after watching the play 'Prima Facie', Secretary Dhungana said, 'Sexual violence laws should be victim-friendly, social activists should be sensitive to spread public awareness about this law.'

Newly appointed Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Sobita Gautam, upon assuming office, decided to take forward the process of removing obstacles in the existing laws to ensure strict punishment for those involved in rape, murder after rape, sexual violence and heinous crimes against children and to provide speedy justice to the victims.

A study task force has been formed under the coordination of the secretary of the ministry to identify the obstacles in the laws including the Criminal Code to punish the perpetrators involved in heinous crimes such as rape and murder after rape, sexual violence and crimes against children and to provide speedy justice to the victims.

In this regard, the play ‘Prima Facie’ has shown how sexual violence really is. The play, written by Suzio Miller, features Pashupati Rai in a strong performance. The two-hour play was translated by Durga Karki and directed by Akanksha Karki.

In the play shown at Kausi Theater, Prija, who studied law at a famous university, is a skilled lawyer. Prija, who is an advocate for violence against women, becomes a victim of violence from her own friend, and the play powerfully shows how the police, the court, her family, and society treat the victim.

After the play was completed, in a panel discussion hosted by FWLD advocate Rojina Shrestha, Associate Attorney General Bina Dahal shared her experience of more than a dozen sexual violence incidents that came to her mind after watching the play. She said that society needs to be sensitive in formulating laws on sexual violence as the nature of each violence is different. Similar to the play presented, she experienced that despite trying to help many victims, the victims could not be helped and the perpetrators punished due to the circumstances. She said that the law to be made now would try to cover all these things.

Senior advocate Meera Dhungana, a member of the study task force formed to identify obstacles in the laws and a member of the panel discussion, shared her experiences from the district to the Supreme Court in cases of sexual violence. She said that the law should be improved after feeling that she was a victim. She pointed out the need for more improvements in the law.

FWLD Executive Director Advocate Sabin Shrestha said that one should be able to say ‘no’ to something one does not want. If someone tries to do something against one’s will, that is violence, Director Shrestha said, ‘Such acts against one’s will should be called ‘nai’. If someone tries to force someone to do something instead of ‘nai’, that person should be punished.’