Nepal army fires women soldiers for lesbianism

KATHMANDU: Nepal’s army has stirred up a new controversy by sacking two women because they were flat-chested and accused of being lesbians, says a rights group.

The two women, who do not want to be named, say they were unfairly accused of being lesbians and sacked after being kept in solitary confinement in windowless cells for more than a month. The older of the two women, a 22-year-old, joined the army four years ago. Wiry and with close-cropped hair and habitually dressed in trousers and shirt, she often outstripped her male colleagues during physical training courses, which she says, gave rise to whispers that she was a transgender.

The campaign, she says, increased when one of the women in the camp made sexual advances, which she rejected. Alarmed by the mounting vilification campaign, she says she tried to defend herself by complaining to the authorities about the irregularities prevailing in the barracks, like some of her female colleagues smuggling in men. Her complaint she says triggered a retaliation.

About three months ago, the male head of a night patrol burst into the room she shared with four other colleagues and accused her of having a lesbian relationship with a trainee.

Though one of the women present in the room tried to defend them saying that the trainee had been reading a book when she fell asleep, both the instructor and the 21-year-old trainee were accused of being lesbians and having an immoral relationship.

They were then kept in solitary confinement for 60 and 45 days respectively in a tiny cell that had no windows. They were not allowed to leave the cells or speak with anyone. They were also not allowed to contact their families. Finally, on July 17, they were both dismissed without being given any papers.