Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening from Kathmandu. This is Issue 156 of Kalam Weekly, the only newsletter you need to keep up to date with everything happening in Nepal.
In this newsletter:
Ruling parties push to remove the Deputy Speaker
Badshah Kurmi steps down as Lumbini Provincial Assembly members
Three more Nepalis die in the Russia-Ukraine war
Min Bham’s Shambhala to release this week
The deep dive: What’s up with the Nepali ‘Sugar Daddy’?
Ruling parties push to remove the Deputy Speaker
Things are coming to a head in the Lower House of the federal Parliament, with the ruling coalition of the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML parties readying to impeach Deputy Speaker Indira Rana Magar for “conduct incompatible with their position.” In February last year, Rana Magar wrote a letter to the American Embassy in Kathmandu, asking that visa dates be expedited for herself and five others going to New York to participate in the 67th summit of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women. It turned out that those five men were unaffiliated with Rana Magar or any NGO working for women’s rights; they were simply men who wanted to go to the United States and, I’m assuming, hide out there.
The public only learned of the letter in July this year, when it conveniently landed in the hands of the media. Since then, the Congress and UML have demanded that Rana Magar step down as she breached ethical bounds and misused the official letterhead of the Deputy Speaker. Rana Magar has consistently refused to step down, leading the two parties to pursue impeachment. However, impeachment requires a two-thirds majority. The 275-member House of Representatives thus requires 184 votes to impeach Rana Magar. The Congress has 88 votes and the UML 77, totalling just 165. They need another 20 votes to pass the impeachment motion and are thus reaching out to smaller parties. The Maoist party, currently the primary opposition, has opposed the impeachment, as has the Rastriya Swatantra Party, the fourth largest party, as Rana Magar is a party member.
The Congress-UML alliance has wooed the Ashok Rai-led Janata Samajbadi Party, which has seven votes; the Mahanta Thakur-led Loktantrik Samajbadi Party, which has four votes; the Ranjita Shrestha-led Nagarik Unmukti Party, which also has four votes; and an independent member, Yogendra Mandal. This totals 181 votes, just three votes shy of the two-thirds majority. So, the ruling alliance is attempting to bring CK Raut’s Janamat Party or Upendra Yadav’s Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal on board. Raut and Yadav are bitter rivals in the Madhesi political sphere and are certain to weigh each others’ demands before agreeing to any offer from the ruling alliance. One or the other will agree to the impeachment.
So it looks like Deputy Speaker Rana Magar’s days are numbered. Rana Magar, for those who don’t know her, is a celebrated social worker and activist who has plaudits for her work with prisoners and their children. Rana Magar admitted that she had written the letter but had done so out of the “goodness of her heart,” which isn’t a great argument. Her party, however, has argued that the Congress and UML only want to impeach her so that they can fill her seat with someone from their own party and gain a comfortable majority on the Constitutional Council. This body appoints members to powerful constitutional commissions. More than any concern over Rana Magar’s impropriety, I believe the Rastriya Swatantra Party is right. The Congress and UML have ulterior motives behind the impeachment. Still, Rana Magar made the “mistake,” and the ruling alliance simply capitalized on it.
Badshah Kurmi steps down as Lumbini Provincial Assembly member
Three years ago, in 2021, 14 individuals marched to Kathmandu from Nepalgunj over 20 days to protest the suspicious death of Nankuni Dhobi and the equally suspicious disappearance of Nirmala Kurmi. The protestors faced a brutal crackdown by the authorities. Police manhandled and arrested them while they were eating dinner. Protest leader activist Ruby Khan was summarily arrested, and a fraudulent case of polygamy was registered against her. I wrote about that incident in more detail in the newsletter below:
The protestors identified Badshah Kurmi, a Nepali Congress politician and member of the Lumbini Provincial Assembly, as the primary suspect in the disappearance of Nirmala Kurmi. According to Kantipur daily, Badshah allegedly seized Nirmala Kurmi’s property after the deaths of her husband and two sons, who also died under mysterious circumstances. Badshah was alleged to have beaten and abused Nirmala in 2006, and then, in 2010, Nirmala disappeared. She has yet to be found.
The Nepali Congress fielded Badshah as a provincial assembly candidate in the 2022 elections, despite a Nepal Police investigation that found that Badshah was involved in the abduction and disappearance of Nirmala. The case was never taken to court, and Badshah won the election. Earlier this year, he was appointed Provincial Minister for Forests and Environment, leading to renewed protests from Ruby Khan and the women who had protested in 2021. This protest, too, was dispersed by the police, and the protestors were arrested. The government, however, pledged to address the protestors’ demands and even asked Badshah to step down while an investigation was carried out.
Badshah stoically refused to step down, but on Tuesday, September 10, he finally bowed to pressure and resigned as provincial minister. He remains a member of the Provincial Assembly. Ruby Khan, however, is not satisfied with his resignation. They want Badshah to step down from all public positions and the government to take his case to court. The Nepali Congress, however, has blocked all attempts to prosecute Badshah as he remains an influential local party leader. According to Kantipur, a police committee led by Senior Superintendent Dinesh Acharya and Superintendent Kamal Thapa had concluded that Badshah should be prosecuted for fraud, criminal treachery, criminal gain, bribery, and money laundering, even though a year and a half ago, the report has been kept secret.
While there has been no movement in the case, Badshah’s resignation will hopefully lead to a criminal trial and eventual prosecution. The Congress wants to protect him at all costs, just like it protected Mohammad Aftab Alam for so long despite accusations of burning people alive in a brick kiln. Alam was sentenced to life in prison earlier in June by the Rautahat District Court after 16 years of obstruction by the Nepali Congress. I hope Nirmala Kurmi won’t have to wait another ten years to get some semblance of justice. But as Eomer says in The Lord of the Rings, “Do not trust to hope, for it has forsaken these lands.”
Three more Nepalis die in the Russia-Ukraine war
Last week, I wrote about what should be Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba’s immediate priorities — bringing back Bipin Joshi and preventing more Nepalis from dying for Russia in Ukraine. This week, on Monday, Russia confirmed the deaths of three more Nepalis, bringing the official death toll to 43. Additionally, the Russians have requested Nepal to send over DNA samples of the close family members of 35 individuals. This likely means that those 35 have been killed, and Russia needs DNA samples to identify their bodies. With those 35, the death toll soars to 78.
This is only the official count. Hundreds of Nepalis are presumed dead, with hundreds more currently fighting on the frontlines of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. I fail to understand why the Nepal government is not engaging every avenue it has to prevent these needless deaths. It’s enough to make one want to scream from the rooftops. Nepalis are fighting an illegal war against a country that Nepal has no animosity with. They are shooting at Ukrainians fighting to defend their homeland and are being shot at in return and killed. All in exchange for a measly few thousand rubles. Certainly, Nepalis are desperate for jobs, but is that enough justification to willingly join up to kill other people?
Nepal should’ve long ago embarked on a massive campaign to educate Nepalis about the risks of going to Russia. Death is a very real possibility, and if not death, then disfigurement and lifelong disability. Are money and a chance for Russian residency enough to risk life and limb, risk depriving your children of a father, risk fighting for a corrupt army that might not even pay you in the end? Why aren’t Nepali governments, from the federal to the local, running around with megaphones telling people that they will die a dog’s death in inhospitable lands, far away from home, surrounded by people who couldn’t care less if they live or die? Ukraine has released graphic footage of mercenary deaths, hoping to dissuade foreigners from joining the Russian side. Maybe it is time for Nepal to show potential migrants to Russia these videos. Something, anything, needs to be done.
Min Bham’s Shambhala to release next week
Let’s wrap up this section on a more upbeat note. Min Bham, the celebrated director of the film Kalo Pothi, has a new film out. Shambhala takes place in Upper Dolpo where polyandry is common. Pema, a young woman newly married to two brothers, finds herself pregnant and embarks on a quest to discern the father of her child. Sounds pretty fascinating, no?
Bham has a penchant for telling stories set in the wilds of the Nepali Himalayas. Shambhala is set in Upper Dolpa, part of Dolpa district, while Kalo Pothi is set in Mugu, another high Himalayan district. Like Kalo Pothi, this film seems like it is going to be another understated exploratory take on ideas that have yet to be explored by Nepali filmmakers. Not to forget, it looks beautiful.
Bollywood star Nawazuddin Siddiqui and director Anurag Kashyap were recently in Kathmandu for the premier. The film has received rave reviews and even won its star, Thinley Lhamo, the Boccalino d’Oro Prize for Best Acting Performance at Switzerland's 77th Locarno Film Festival, the first for any South Asian actor. Lhamo is a Tibetan-Nepali actor last seen in the cult Nepali film, Hari. The film is playing in theaters across Kathmandu; catch it if you can. Here’s the trailer:
That’s it for the wrap-up. The deep dive continues after the break below.
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The deep dive: Who or what is the Nepali ‘Sugar Daddy’?
Last week, on Thursday, September 5, the news portal Sidha Kura published a sensational video report. According to the video, a 33-year-old man named Ashish Deula puts on an old man’s mask and frequents nightclubs in Kathmandu. He parties with young men and women while clad in that creepy mask and flashes a lot of cash. He goes by ‘Sugar Daddy’ and claims to patronize numerous women and men with his riches.
But things get a lot darker. In the video, a man anonymized to protect his identity claims that Deula abducted him and routinely tortured him. He claims that he was threatened with a construction drill and burned with a hot welding iron. He had nails shoved under his nails, was raped with a snooker cue, and had caustic chemicals poured into his anus and on his wounds. His testicles were squeezed with pliers. All the while, Deula and his associates filmed the torture, laughed, and took pleasure in his pain and misery. The video ends with Deula and three others being taken into custody by the police for investigation.
This video went viral. It was all large sections of Nepali social media could talk about. The details were suitably bizarre and horrific. A man in a mask, abducting and torturing people for some sadistic pleasure. People were outraged, demanding capital punishment for Deula. The police, too, admitted that Deula and three others were in custody for hostage-taking and torture, and an investigation was proceeding. But many, including myself, were suspicious.
The report was published by Sidha Kura, a news portal without the best reputation. I’ve written about Sidha Kura before. In May, the portal published an audio recording that purported to have numerous high-profile individuals, including Supreme Court Justice Ananda Mohan Bhattarai, lawyers Kishor Bista and Hari Upreti, journalist Surendra Kafle, Annapurna Media Network chairman Rameshwor Thapa, and Kantipur Media Group chairman Kailash Sirohiya discussing the suppression of certain corruption cases in exchange for bribes. All the alleged parties vehemently denied that it was them on the audio, and the Supreme Court filed a contempt of court case suo moto. The case is still in court, and the final verdict is scheduled for September 26. However, the police concluded that the audio was fake and filed criminal charges against three people. Read more in the newsletter below:
Clearly, Sidha Kura is not the most trustworthy news portal out there. Even if its editors were not malicious, they were negligent. In their excitement to publish scintillating content, they failed to exercise even the most basic journalistic rigor. So, it was only natural for many to be suspicious of this new ‘Sugar Daddy’ report. Furthermore, the report was based solely on one person’s testimony. The video states that Sidha Kura, too, was suspicious at first but was convinced when the victim showed them the wounds on his back. That’s not evidence. He could’ve received those wounds in any number of ways. One person’s testimony should not be enough to accuse someone of such heinous crimes. Even the police taking the men into custody should not be seen as an indication of guilt. In Nepal, police take people into custody for investigation simply upon being accused of a crime. If the police don’t find enough evidence to charge them, they are released. Otherwise, they are kept in custody until their hearing in court. Yes, I know, it is a terrible system.
But it turned out that Sidha Kura wasn’t the only one who had reported on it. On September 4, a day earlier, OnlineKhabar had published a report on the same case. Only, the report was not a video and was not accompanied by fanciful illustrations and gaudy effects. It was a humble written report that no one paid attention to until Sidha Kura came along.
On Sunday, September 8, Sidha Kura published testimony from another of Deula’s alleged victims. This man claimed that he had been abducted from a club and then tortured with a knife and various chemicals. No one else had reported on this case, despite it having all the elements that the Nepali media would love to repeat — a wealthy perpetrator, debauchery at Kathmandu’s clubs, violence, and hints of sexual perversion. Then, reports began to appear in other media, too. Onlinekhabar and Ratopati published their own reports on Monday, followed by one on Nepalviews on Tuesday and another on Annapurna Post on Wednesday. The news reached the Nepali diaspora, too, with a report from the website CanadaNepal.
It looks like there is truth to this bizarre story.
Still, details are scant, and reports are conflicting. There is no clarity on why exactly Deula abducted and tortured these young men. Some reports allege that it was revenge for an argument they had at the club, while others say that he simply took pleasure in sadism. Still others say that there were debts to be paid and the torture was a warning to pay up. Some media reports claim that he drugged young men and women and took them to his home. Others say that they were abducted from elsewhere in broad daylight. It is also unclear how many people he tortured like this, as more victims seem to be coming forward. Psychiatrists who spoke to the media say he could be a sadist since he appears to take pleasure in the pain of others and a narcissist since he appears to believe he is untouchable and can do whatever he wants. He let these men go free after torturing them, not expecting them to go to the police.
Who is Deula, though? Media reports say that he is the son of wealthy deceased parents. He has a large home in Budhanilkantha and drives an expensive SUV. He also runs several businesses and owns land across Kathmandu. Some reports also say that he is married and has twin children who live in the same house where he allegedly carried out his torture. As to why he felt the need to don a mask, he reportedly told police that he didn’t want to be recognized as he ran numerous businesses and didn’t want to tarnish his image. I find it strange that Kathmandu’s clubs, with their overzealous bouncers, would let in someone wearing a weird mask. But then, if he sneaked them a few thousand rupees, they would let just about anyone in. On his TikTok page, there are numerous videos of him at clubs and at home, throwing money around and dancing in that frightening old man mask.
Maybe it’s a sign of my age, but I find the videos of Deula dancing with numerous young men and women equally strange. Why would anyone dance with this strange-looking fellow wearing an old man’s mask? His visage would creep me out, no matter how much money he threw around. Perhaps I fail to understand the lure of a man with seemingly deep pockets.
You might be wondering why exactly I’m writing this deep dive. Honestly, it’s been a slow week for the news. But also, the story was so outlandish that I felt it deserved a mention, which turned into a deep dive. But I wonder how this story would’ve turned out if it had been reported correctly. Instead of sensationalizing the more lurid aspects of the story, the media could’ve treated the issue seriously and reported it with the gravity it deserved. But then, the story wouldn’t have gone viral. People wouldn’t be talking about it the way they are now. Crime stories always invite more attention, especially in this age of true crime podcasts and YouTube videos. The more scandalous the details, the more views it collects.
So far, this story has only gone viral because of its details. Many still believe that the whole thing is fake. Without an authoritative report, rumors and hearsay are proliferating, and each media portal is speculating on its own. Some have dubbed Deula a “sadist,” while others call him a “psychopath.” There are allegations that Deula also tortured women, but there’s no evidence or testimony of that yet. CanadaNepal, the diaspora website, even speculates that Deula was possibly recording the torture and selling it on the “dark web.” The lurid nature of the crime lends itself to wild internet speculation.
This is a bizarre story that warrants better reporting. If only the media in Nepal could be bothered to spend some time and energy actually vetting sources, collecting evidence, and constructing a foolproof story with no holes, there wouldn’t be so many questions. And perhaps, instead of the sick excitement with which people are sharing this story, it would’ve elicited a more somber response.
That’s all for this week. I will be back next Friday, in your emails, for the next edition of KALAM Weekly.
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