LALITPUR: Women Constituent Assembly members today said that they were going to table a sankalpa prastav in the parliament to deliberate on a number of issues facing women, including violence against women and rape, to draw the attention of the government.

Speaking at an interaction on 'challenges in implementation of law and order against increasing rape cases' organised here by the South Asian Free Media Association, Nepal, Dama Sharma, president of women's caucus in the Constituent Assembly (CA) said that they have been receiving increasing cases of rape and domestic violence against women.

"We are doing a homework to table a sankalpa prastav in parliament to discuss on such cases with the lawmakers," she said.

"We cannot possibly wait till the drafting of the constitution to deliberate on such critical issues and to ensure the rights and security of women," she added.

"Rape is the biggest crime as it leads to physical and mental trauma for the victim," said Kalpana Rana, another CA member,adding, "There is a great challenge before us to reduce such incidences and guarantee security to our female friends."

Kedar Nath Upadhayay, president of National Human Rights Commission said that there was a need of a special court to deal with rape cases.

"In rape cases, evidences are hard to come by, thus, there is a need to have sensitive judges and women advocates to give justice to the victims as quickly as possible," he argued.

Advocate Kabita Pandey said that the law enforcement bodies should focus on the victim justice rather than criminal justice.

Babita Basnet, president of Sancharika Samuha said that the graph on rape cases has been steadily upward as perpetrators continued to enjoy impunity.

She said that along with the increased amount of compensation, the incidences of rape tend to increase as the two are correlated. "This could be one reason why rape cases are increasing and the culprits are escaping from the legal procedures," she argued.

Speaking on the same occasion, Binod Singh, DIG, said that the police alone cannot control cases of domestic violence. "We need the support from all sectors," he said, adding that the Nepali Police had suspended all the security personnel from Achham involved in raping their own woman colleague. He also stated that they have urged for more budget and the establishment of childcare facilities for women police to serve in the country. The past six months had seen 100 reported cases of rape, as per the data provided by Women Rehabilitation Centre.