By TRN Online, Kathmandu, Feb. 12: The Comprehensive Civil Movement today took out a rally denouncing violence against women (VoW) and demanding an end to all forms of discrimination against women.

The march pass that started from Basantapur went via Ratna Park and turned into a mass gathering at Singh Durbar.

The participants in the march pass carried placards that read end to violence, discrimination against women and justice to the victims.

The prevalence of violence and discrimination against women in Nepal remains crystal clear as the government seems to continue curtailing the rights of women upholding the patriarchal concept, said Ramesh Bhattarai, a professor at Tribhuvan University.

He said that the proposed amendment to the Immigration Procedure, 2008, mentioning that first-time women travelers under the age of 40, if they are travelling alone, need a written letter from their family members and their respective ward offices stating their ‘permission’ for the visit is regressive and will push the society backward.

A participant and a doctor by profession expressed her outrage at the government’s failure to stop violence angst women and girls.

Saying that women do not always need a man, she added that both she and her husband are doctors and that she is equally capable as her husband. But, the state rules and social norms treat me in a discriminatory way, which is offensive, she said.

Likewise, another participant in the march pass, a student, Srijana Dahal from Madhayapur Thimi Municipality-9, expressed that women have been facing restrictions and discrimination in all walks of life.

Some success stories do not blanket the prevalence of discrimination and restriction to women, she said adding that her reason for participating in the programme was to speak against the existing situation of women.

Another participant, a house maker, said that she has left her newborn with her husband to come to participate in the programme said that the Nirmala rape case, Bhagarathi Bhatta case is still unsolved and the violence of women still continues, but not a single profound action has been taken to address the problem. So, I participated in today’s mass demonstration to demand justice, she said.

The demonstrators also staged a funeral procession during the women's march pass to show that the rights of women still remain stifled.