Rape and murder of 3-year-old girl sparks outrage in Nepal, with protesters demanding tougher laws

The rape and murder of a 3-year-old girl in Nepal has sparked widespread outrage and protests in the Himalayan country, with activists and politicians demanding tougher laws on rape, including calls for the death penalty to be imposed for the crime.

The little girl went missing from her home in Bara, about 80 miles south of the capital Kathmandu, on August 16. Her body was found at an abandoned house three days later. Police registered a case of rape and murder and have arrested nine suspects, including a bus driver and a 16-year-old boy who worked on the same bus, who they accuse of luring the girl into the attack with chocolate.

Outrage over the attack led to protests that lasted several days, with angry demonstrators, many of them young people, blocking highways around the capital.

Protesters shouted slogans denouncing the police and government over alleged delays in taking action to find the missing girl and then to find the perpetrators. There has also been pointed criticism of Prime Minister Balen Shah, who came to power following Gen-Z-led protests in 2025 that led to his predecessor KP Sharma Oli being ousted.

Shah, a relatively young leader who brought hope to many in the country that systematic change in policing and other issues would be implemented, is facing criticism for failing to usher in those changes—and for going on a personal tour of a picturesque mountain region in the country as the protests ramped up earlier this week.

The father of the victim alleged that police didn't respond with urgency when the family reported her missing, forcing family members to mount a search themselves.

"I raised the matter with the police," the man told The Kathmandu Post. "But they said they could not proceed merely on what I was saying and asked me to file a formal complaint by naming suspects."

Neither the victim nor her family has been named by officials.

The protesters, along with several activists and politicians, have demanded tougher laws against rape and sexual violence.

Government ministers met with the victim's family over the weekend and promised to review laws and create a memorial in honor of the little girl.

"Will erecting a statue bring back the life of a 3-year-old girl?" Pramila Kumari Gachhadar, a lawmaker with the opposition Nepali Congress party, asked in parliament Monday, criticizing the government's handling of the case. "An agreement paper may temporarily stop protests, and relief may ease momentary pain, but it cannot restore long-term perception of justice and trust in the state."

Another lawmaker, Prakash Pathak of the prime minister's Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), urged the government to consider the death penalty for convicted rapists, according to The Himalayan newspaper.

Nepal's constitution bars the death penalty for any crimes, so the maximum sentence a court can currently impose is life imprisonment.

"If possible, provisions for hanging rapists must be made. If not, laws should be enacted to amputate the organ used to commit the rape," added RSP lawmaker Ashika Tamang.

Nepal's Minister for Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs, Sobita Gautam, and Home Minister Sudan Gurung both ruled out capital punishment, however, noting that it would require amending the constitution.

Nepali law currently imposes a minimum of seven years in prison for people convicted of raping an adult. In cases where the victim is under 10 years old, the possible jail term is 16 to 20 years, but it can be increased to life imprisonment depending on the circumstances of the case.

In cases of rape and murder, the punishment is life imprisonment.

An average of more than 2,500 rapes are reported in Nepal every year, including 250 in which the victims are under the age of 10, according to data compiled by the Nepal Police.

Source: CBS News, Arshad R. Zargar, August 25, 2026

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde

Death Penalty News For a World without the Death Penalty

Comments

Oklahoma executes James Pavatt

Pavatt claimed innocence in the slaying of an Oklahoma City advertising executive for insurance money. His co-defendant and former lover Brenda Andrew is also on death row. James Pavatt made no final statement before being executed Thursday for killing his lover’s estranged husband nearly 25 years ago. Pavatt merely shook his head when asked by Oklahoma Department of Corrections Chief of Operations Jason Sparks if he had any last words. Pavatt appeared to share a quick word with Michael Scott, his spiritual advisor, after microphones inside the death chamber had been cut off.

Oklahoma Death Row inmate James Pavatt scheduled to be executed Thursday

James Pavatt is scheduled to be executed on Thursday for the 2001 killing of an Oklahoma City man. OKLAHOMA CITY—Oklahoma Death Row inmate James Pavatt is set to be executed for the 2001 murder of advertising executive Rob Andrew. His execution is scheduled for Nov. 12, 2026. In 2004, Pavatt and his lover/co-conspirator, Brenda Andrew, were sentenced to death for planning the killing of her estranged husband in an attempt to claim his $800,000 life insurance policy. Brenda is the only woman on Oklahoma’s death row.

Judge allows Tennessee death row inmates to include botched executions in lawsuit

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Two failed executions in Tennessee are now at the center of a growing legal battle over the state’s lethal injection protocol after a judge ruled in favor of death row inmates Friday. A Davidson County judge ruled death row inmates can expand their lawsuit to include new allegations stemming from the botched executions of Tony Carruthers and Christa Pike. The original lawsuit, filed in March 2025, argues Tennessee’s death penalty protocol violates the constitutional rights of death row inmates with complex medical conditions. More than one year later, the state then failed to execute two inmates: Tony Carruthers and Christa Pike.

Two men set to be executed in Texas and Oklahoma today

The U.S. was preparing to carry out two executions on Thursday, one in Oklahoma and one in Texas. In Texas, the condemned man is John Allen Rubio, 46, who is set to be put to death at the state prison in Huntsville. He was convicted of beheading three young children he was raising in a 2003 killing that rattled a community along the U.S.-Mexico border. The other man facing execution is James Pavatt, 73, who is set to die by lethal injection at Oklahoma's state penitentiary in McAlester.

Texas executes John Rubio

Texas man who killed 3 children is put to death, hours after an Oklahoma execution James Pavatt was put to death in Oklahoma for Rob Andrew’s killing. In Texas, John Allen Rubio was executed for the deaths of Julissa Quesada, John E. Rubio, and Mary Jane Rubio. A Texas man convicted of fatally stabbing and beheading 3 young children in a squalid, windowless apartment in 2003 was executed Thursday evening, hours after Oklahoma put another man to death.

Why Many Americans Think Christa Pike Should Undergo a Second Execution Attempt

On October 20, Reuters released the results of a survey showing that 33% of the American public want Tennessee to try again to put Christa Pike to death. Another 26% are undecided. That means 59% of the public would support or be open to such a possibility. I want to suggest a reason why. Second execution attempts are rare in this country and, as a result, the public knows little if anything about them. That may help explain why so many would give Tennessee another chance to kill Christa Pike.

Iran executes three more January protesters accused of spying for Israel, US

In a statement, the judiciary said that “the death sentences of Hassan Deoband, Hamid Kazemi, and Reza Zangana were carried out on charges of ‘participating in operational action for the infamous Zionist regime and the United States and hostile groups.’” ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iran on Sunday executed three more protesters over their involvement in the nationwide demonstrations in January, the judiciary announced, accusing them of spying for the United States and Israel and destroying infrastructure.

Alabama executes Michael Shannon Taylor

Alabama executes man convicted of 1991 double murder The state of Alabama carried out the execution of 54-year-old Michael Shannon Taylor Thursday night for the 1991 murders of an elderly Etowah County couple, 35 years and 1 day after the crime. Taylor, convicted in 1993 on 3 counts of capital murder, was sentenced to death unanimously by a jury for killing 83-year-old Ivan Ernest Moore and 79-year-old Lucille Moore inside their Gadsden home during a robbery. Taylor was 19 at the time.

Iran | 10 executed in Ahvaz, Isfahan, Karaj

Four prisoners, including an Afghan national, were executed at Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj on Wednesday, November 4, 2026. All four had been sentenced to death under Iran’s qisas (retributive justice) laws on murder charges. According to information obtained by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, one of the executed prisoners was identified as Gol Agha Eskandari, an Afghan national. Eskandari had been convicted of murder following a dispute between neighbors in the Khorasan Square area of Tehran in July 2024 and subsequently sentenced to death.

Florida executes Jesse Guardado

Man convicted of 2004 killing is put to death in Florida’s 19th execution this year, tying a record Florida carried out a record-tying 19th execution of the year in an unusual instance of 3 states administering the death penalty on the same day. Jesse Guardado was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. following a 3-drug injection at a state prison in Starke. He had pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing 75-year-old Jackie Malone inside her Walton County home in 2004 before stealing her jewelry box, $80, and other valuables to buy drugs. The woman had helped him get a job and housing.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog