Death Penalty Is Not the Solution

In Nepal, many times social activists, protestors, and citizens have demanded a legal provision for the death penalty in rape cases—especially in cases of child rape and other cruel, inhuman, and heinous crimes. After a horrific incident in Jitpur Simara, where a three-year-old girl was found dead and police confirmed she was sexually assaulted and killed, voices grew louder for amending Article 16(2) of the Constitution of Nepal to introduce capital punishment. Some have even made this their political agenda, while many others demand it as a deterrent to sexual offences. The horrific rape of a child unquestionably demands the strongest possible legal response, but the gravity of the offence should not lead Nepal to abandon its constitutional and human-rights commitment against capital punishment.