Articles
Increasing Status of Criminal Gangs in Post-conflict Nepal: The Case of Kathmandu Valley
Dipesh Kumar K. C.
Published 2018-11-30
Keywords
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How to Cite
K. C., D. K. (2018). Increasing Status of Criminal Gangs in Post-conflict Nepal: The Case of Kathmandu Valley. Kathmandu School of Law Review, 6(2), 65–78. Retrieved from https://kslreview.org/index.php/kslr/article/view/205
Abstract
The paper has objectives: to explain the gang phenomenon in Kathmandu Valley, their causes of effectiveness, the politicization of criminal gangs in the post-conflict situation, and the counter-product of governmental intervention. It has discussed the present challenges that the Valley has been facing, and possibilities of future challenges it has to confront. Youths’ identity crisis, social opportunities, rapid urbanization and incorrect approaches to gangs’ suppression are the key frameworks to find out the causes behind the criminal gangs being increasingly active in Kathmandu Valley. Interestingly, marginalized and suppressed social members feel secure and protected in the gang. The researcher has identified that the criminal gangs are the social fact of the rapidly urbanized society of the Kathmandu Valley where prevention policies have been neglected a lot. As a result, suppression policies have failed, thus, the new forms of gang-related crimes have emerged and expanded far and huge.
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References
1 Subindra Bogati, ‛Towards a Safer City’, The Kathmandu Post, 11 September 2014 available at http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/printedition/news/2014-09-10/towards-a-safer-city.html, accessed on 19 July 2016.
2 Gopal Dahal, ‛Khor ma Gunda [Gunda in Custody]’, Sukrabar, 14 March 2014, pp. 1-3.
3 Dambar Krishna Shrestha, ‛Gunda ko Samrajya [Gangsterlands]’, Himal, 1 August 2011.
4 The World Bank, Conflict, Security and Development, World Development Report 2011, 2011, p.55.
5 Rajesh Bhandari, ‘Kathmandu ma Tin Sreni ka Gunda Sakriya, Kun Area ma kun Party ko? (Three Levels of Gundas in Kathmandu)’, Ratopati.com, 3 November 2017 available at http://ratopati.com/story/20164?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=socialnetwork, accessed on 26 January 2018.
6 Ibid.
7 The World Bank (n 4).
8 In 2006, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed between The Government of Nepal and armed Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) that signified the end of a decade-long armed conflict and Nepal transitioned into the peace process.
9 Saferworld, Perceptions of Public Security and Crime in the Kathmandu Valley, Saferworld Nepal Programme, Lalitpur, 2012.
10 Manoj Kumar KC, Identifying Effective Measures to Combat Organized Crime in Post-Conflict Nepal: A Case Study from Kathmandu, November 2012.
11 Richard A. Cloward & Lloyd E. Ohlin, Delinquency and Opportunity: A Theory of Delinquent Gangs, The Free Press, Illinois, 1960.
12 Walter B Miller, 1958 ‛Lower Class Culture as a Generating Milieu for Gang Delinquency,’ vol. 14, Journal of Social Issues, 1958, pp. 5-19.
13 Ibid.
14 Jessica R. Dunham, ‛Lafree, Gry D and Christopher Birkbeck: Situational Analysis of Crime’, in Francis T. Cullen & Pamela Wilcox (eds), Encyclopedia of Criminological Theory, Sage, New Delhi, 2010, pp. 538-540.
15 Richard Wortley, ‛A Classification of Techniques for Controlling Situational Precipitators of Crime’, vol. 14, Security Journal, 2001, pp. 63-82.
16 Marcus K. Felson, Crime and Everyday Life, Pine Forge Press, Thousand Oaks, 1998.
17 Michael R. Gottfredson &Travis Hirschi, A General Theory of Crime, Stanford University Press, Palo Alto, 1990, p. 90.
18 R. A. Cloward, ‛Illegitimate means, anomie, and deviant behavior’, American Sociological Review, vol. 24, 1959, pp. 164–176.
19 Frederic M. Thrasher, The Gang: A Study of 1,313 Gangs in Chicago. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1927, p.22.
20 M. W. Klein, The American Street Gang, Oxford University Press, New York, 1995, p.147.
21 Cloward (n 18), p.22.
22 Ibid.
23 Irving A. Spergel, ‛Youth Gangs: Continuity and Change’, vol. 12, Crime and Justice, 1990, pp. 171-275.
24 Robert J., Franzese, Herbert C. Covey, & Scott Menard, Youth Gangs, 3rd edn, Charles C Thomas Publisher, Springfield, 2006, p.9.
25 Bogati (n 1).
26 John G. Cooper (ed), Youth Gangs: Causes, Violence and Interventions, Nova Science Publishers, New York, 2009, p.7.
27 Colette Rausch(ed.), Combating Serious Crimes in Postconflict Societies: A Handbook for Policymakers and Practitioners, Peacebuilding and the Rule of Law, United States Institute of Peace, 2006, p.3.
28 Jaideep Gupte & Subindra Bogati, ‛Key Challenges of Security Provision in Rapidly Urbanising Contexts: Evidence from Kathmandu Valley and Terai Regions of Nepal’, Institute of Development Studies, England, 2014.
29 Russell S. Sobel & Brian J. Osoba, ‛Youth Gangs as Pseudo-Governments: Implications for Violent Crime’, vol. 75, Southern Economic Journal, 2009, pp. 996-1018.
30 Bhandari (n 5).
31 Saferworld (n 9), p.5.
32 Dipesh Kumar KC, Nepal ma Sangathit Aparadh [Organized Crime in Nepal], Brother Books, Kathmandu, 2013, p.74; Bhandari (n 5).
33 Saferworld (n 9).
34 P. Friday & L. Stewart, Youth Crime and Juvenile Justice, Praeger Publishers, New York, 1997.
35 Frederick M. Thrasher, The Gang: A Study of 1,313 Gangs in Chicago, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1927.
36 Clifford Shaw & Henry McKay, Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1942.
37 Jaideep Gupte & Subindra Bogati, Key Challenges of Security Provision in Rapidly Urbanising Contexts: Evidence from Kathmandu Valley and Terai Regions of Nepal, Institute of Development Studies, Kathmandu, 2014, p.5.
38 J.M. Hagedorn, ‛Gangs and the Informal Economy’, in C.R. Huff (ed) Gangs in America, Sage, Newbury Park, CA, 2002.
39 Walter Reckless, The Crime Problem, Appleton Century Crofts, New York, 1967, p.283.
40 Rausch (n 27).
41 K.C. (n 32), p.169.
42 Ibid, pp.186-187.
43 Kathmandu School of Law, ‛Research on Situation of Organized Crime in Kathmandu City after April Movement’. vol. 65 E-Bulletin, Kathmandu School of Law, Bhaktapur, 2006, available at http://www.ksl.edu.np/files/large/5855fef683ae03a, accessed on 19 July 2016.
44 Saferworld (n 9), p.7.
45 Gupte & Bogati (n 28), p.4.
46 Franzese, Covey & Menard (n 24), p.206.
47 Spergel (n 23), p.222.
48 Sobel & Osaba (n 29).
49 ‛Kahile Samatinchan Ei (Fugitive Criminals?)’, Sukrabar, Nepal, 14 March 2014, pp.5-9.
50 Bhandari (n 5).
51 Franzese, Covey & Menard (n 24), pp.219-220.
52 Dipesh Kumar KC, Causes & Consequences of Dacoity: A Case Study of Kathmandu Valley, Brother Books, Kathmandu, 2009, p.32.
53 K.C. (n 32), p.26.
54 Dipesh Kumar KC, Crime and Money in Nepal, Brother Books, Kathmandu, 2013, p.207, p.36.
55 Bhandari (n 5).
56 K.C. (n 32), pp.147-148.
57 Navin Jha, ‛Crime and Politics’, Nepali Times, Lalitpur, 7 April 2016.
58 K.C. (n 32), p.37.
59 Ibid p.186; Bhandari (n 5).
60 Saferworld (n 9).
61 Bhandari (n 5).
62 UNICEF, Assessment of Child Protection Concerns of Children in Terai Districts, UNICEF, Kathmandu, 2009.; Matenia P. Sirseloudi, ‛Early Detection of Terrorist Campaigns’, in Alex P Schmid (ed) United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime: Forum on Crime and Society, vol. 4, UN, New York, 2004.
63 The Carter Center, ‛Clashes Between Political Party Youth Wings have Decreased but YCL and UML Youth Force Continue to Seek Financial Gain’, NEWS, The Carter Center, Atlanta, 28 Feb 2011, p.10.
64 Bhandari (n 5).
65 Sukrabar (n 49), pp.5-9.
66 Rausch (n 27), p.25.
67 Dipesh Kumar KC, ‛Gangsterlands’, Nepali Times, 15 August 2014.
68 Ibid.
69 Bhandari (n 5).
70 Sobel & Osaba (n 29).
71 Oriana, Bandiera, ‛Land reform, the market for protection, and the origins of the Sicilian mafia: Theory and evidence’, vol. 19, Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, 2003, pp. 218-244.
72 Annelise, Anderson, ‛Organised crime, mafia and governments’, in Gianluca Fiorentini & Sam Peltzman (eds), The Economics of Organised Crime, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 1995, pp. 33-54.
73 Stergios Skaperdas, ‛The political economy of organized crime: Providing protection when the state does not’, vol. 2, Economics of Governance, 2001, pp. 173-202.
74 Saferworld (n 9), p.2.
75 Spergel (n 23).
76 Marureen P. Duffy & Scott Edward Gillig (eds), Teen Gangs: A Global View, Greenwood Press, London, 2004, pp.110-111.
77 K.C. (n 67).
78 Bhandari (n 5).
79 Bogati (n 1).
80 Saferworld (n 9), p.7.
81 Franzese, Covey & Menard (n 24), p.121.
82 Dipesh Kumar KC, Social Causes of Indo-Nepal Cross-Border Crime, Brother Books, Kathmandu, 2013, p. 19.
83 KP Dhungana,, ‛ Neta-Gunda Nexus (Leader-Hooligan Nexus)’, Sukrabar, 3 May, 2011, p.1.
84 B.P.C. Bose & M.V.S. Koteswara Rao, ‛Criminalisation of Politics: Need for Fundamental Reform’, vol. 66, The Indian Journal of Political Science, 2005, pp. 733-754.
85 Shrestha (n 3).
86 The Carter Center, ‛Clashes Between Political Party Youth Wings have Decreased but YCL and UML Youth Force Continue to Seek Financial Gain’, NEWS, The Carter Center, Atlanta, 28 Feb 2011, p.35.
87 Anjana Luitel, Bishnu Raj Upreti & Ashok Rai, ‛Militarisation of the Youth: Hindering State-Building in Post-Conflict Nepal’, in Bishnu Raj Upreti et al (eds), The Remake of a State: Post-Conflict Challenges and State Building in Nepal, Kathmandu University, Kathmandu, 2010, pp. 193-209.
88 Bose & Rao (n 84).
89 Prashant Jha, ‛It Looks Like Elections’, Himal South Asia, April 2008 available at http://old.himalmag.com/component/content/article/1088-it-looks-like-elections.html accessed on 24 July 2016.
90 Ekantipur, ‛Election Round-UP’, Ekantipur.com, 19 September 2013 available at http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/printedition/news/2013-09-19/election-round-up-253803.html. accessed on 24 July 2016.
2 Gopal Dahal, ‛Khor ma Gunda [Gunda in Custody]’, Sukrabar, 14 March 2014, pp. 1-3.
3 Dambar Krishna Shrestha, ‛Gunda ko Samrajya [Gangsterlands]’, Himal, 1 August 2011.
4 The World Bank, Conflict, Security and Development, World Development Report 2011, 2011, p.55.
5 Rajesh Bhandari, ‘Kathmandu ma Tin Sreni ka Gunda Sakriya, Kun Area ma kun Party ko? (Three Levels of Gundas in Kathmandu)’, Ratopati.com, 3 November 2017 available at http://ratopati.com/story/20164?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=socialnetwork, accessed on 26 January 2018.
6 Ibid.
7 The World Bank (n 4).
8 In 2006, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed between The Government of Nepal and armed Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) that signified the end of a decade-long armed conflict and Nepal transitioned into the peace process.
9 Saferworld, Perceptions of Public Security and Crime in the Kathmandu Valley, Saferworld Nepal Programme, Lalitpur, 2012.
10 Manoj Kumar KC, Identifying Effective Measures to Combat Organized Crime in Post-Conflict Nepal: A Case Study from Kathmandu, November 2012.
11 Richard A. Cloward & Lloyd E. Ohlin, Delinquency and Opportunity: A Theory of Delinquent Gangs, The Free Press, Illinois, 1960.
12 Walter B Miller, 1958 ‛Lower Class Culture as a Generating Milieu for Gang Delinquency,’ vol. 14, Journal of Social Issues, 1958, pp. 5-19.
13 Ibid.
14 Jessica R. Dunham, ‛Lafree, Gry D and Christopher Birkbeck: Situational Analysis of Crime’, in Francis T. Cullen & Pamela Wilcox (eds), Encyclopedia of Criminological Theory, Sage, New Delhi, 2010, pp. 538-540.
15 Richard Wortley, ‛A Classification of Techniques for Controlling Situational Precipitators of Crime’, vol. 14, Security Journal, 2001, pp. 63-82.
16 Marcus K. Felson, Crime and Everyday Life, Pine Forge Press, Thousand Oaks, 1998.
17 Michael R. Gottfredson &Travis Hirschi, A General Theory of Crime, Stanford University Press, Palo Alto, 1990, p. 90.
18 R. A. Cloward, ‛Illegitimate means, anomie, and deviant behavior’, American Sociological Review, vol. 24, 1959, pp. 164–176.
19 Frederic M. Thrasher, The Gang: A Study of 1,313 Gangs in Chicago. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1927, p.22.
20 M. W. Klein, The American Street Gang, Oxford University Press, New York, 1995, p.147.
21 Cloward (n 18), p.22.
22 Ibid.
23 Irving A. Spergel, ‛Youth Gangs: Continuity and Change’, vol. 12, Crime and Justice, 1990, pp. 171-275.
24 Robert J., Franzese, Herbert C. Covey, & Scott Menard, Youth Gangs, 3rd edn, Charles C Thomas Publisher, Springfield, 2006, p.9.
25 Bogati (n 1).
26 John G. Cooper (ed), Youth Gangs: Causes, Violence and Interventions, Nova Science Publishers, New York, 2009, p.7.
27 Colette Rausch(ed.), Combating Serious Crimes in Postconflict Societies: A Handbook for Policymakers and Practitioners, Peacebuilding and the Rule of Law, United States Institute of Peace, 2006, p.3.
28 Jaideep Gupte & Subindra Bogati, ‛Key Challenges of Security Provision in Rapidly Urbanising Contexts: Evidence from Kathmandu Valley and Terai Regions of Nepal’, Institute of Development Studies, England, 2014.
29 Russell S. Sobel & Brian J. Osoba, ‛Youth Gangs as Pseudo-Governments: Implications for Violent Crime’, vol. 75, Southern Economic Journal, 2009, pp. 996-1018.
30 Bhandari (n 5).
31 Saferworld (n 9), p.5.
32 Dipesh Kumar KC, Nepal ma Sangathit Aparadh [Organized Crime in Nepal], Brother Books, Kathmandu, 2013, p.74; Bhandari (n 5).
33 Saferworld (n 9).
34 P. Friday & L. Stewart, Youth Crime and Juvenile Justice, Praeger Publishers, New York, 1997.
35 Frederick M. Thrasher, The Gang: A Study of 1,313 Gangs in Chicago, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1927.
36 Clifford Shaw & Henry McKay, Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1942.
37 Jaideep Gupte & Subindra Bogati, Key Challenges of Security Provision in Rapidly Urbanising Contexts: Evidence from Kathmandu Valley and Terai Regions of Nepal, Institute of Development Studies, Kathmandu, 2014, p.5.
38 J.M. Hagedorn, ‛Gangs and the Informal Economy’, in C.R. Huff (ed) Gangs in America, Sage, Newbury Park, CA, 2002.
39 Walter Reckless, The Crime Problem, Appleton Century Crofts, New York, 1967, p.283.
40 Rausch (n 27).
41 K.C. (n 32), p.169.
42 Ibid, pp.186-187.
43 Kathmandu School of Law, ‛Research on Situation of Organized Crime in Kathmandu City after April Movement’. vol. 65 E-Bulletin, Kathmandu School of Law, Bhaktapur, 2006, available at http://www.ksl.edu.np/files/large/5855fef683ae03a, accessed on 19 July 2016.
44 Saferworld (n 9), p.7.
45 Gupte & Bogati (n 28), p.4.
46 Franzese, Covey & Menard (n 24), p.206.
47 Spergel (n 23), p.222.
48 Sobel & Osaba (n 29).
49 ‛Kahile Samatinchan Ei (Fugitive Criminals?)’, Sukrabar, Nepal, 14 March 2014, pp.5-9.
50 Bhandari (n 5).
51 Franzese, Covey & Menard (n 24), pp.219-220.
52 Dipesh Kumar KC, Causes & Consequences of Dacoity: A Case Study of Kathmandu Valley, Brother Books, Kathmandu, 2009, p.32.
53 K.C. (n 32), p.26.
54 Dipesh Kumar KC, Crime and Money in Nepal, Brother Books, Kathmandu, 2013, p.207, p.36.
55 Bhandari (n 5).
56 K.C. (n 32), pp.147-148.
57 Navin Jha, ‛Crime and Politics’, Nepali Times, Lalitpur, 7 April 2016.
58 K.C. (n 32), p.37.
59 Ibid p.186; Bhandari (n 5).
60 Saferworld (n 9).
61 Bhandari (n 5).
62 UNICEF, Assessment of Child Protection Concerns of Children in Terai Districts, UNICEF, Kathmandu, 2009.; Matenia P. Sirseloudi, ‛Early Detection of Terrorist Campaigns’, in Alex P Schmid (ed) United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime: Forum on Crime and Society, vol. 4, UN, New York, 2004.
63 The Carter Center, ‛Clashes Between Political Party Youth Wings have Decreased but YCL and UML Youth Force Continue to Seek Financial Gain’, NEWS, The Carter Center, Atlanta, 28 Feb 2011, p.10.
64 Bhandari (n 5).
65 Sukrabar (n 49), pp.5-9.
66 Rausch (n 27), p.25.
67 Dipesh Kumar KC, ‛Gangsterlands’, Nepali Times, 15 August 2014.
68 Ibid.
69 Bhandari (n 5).
70 Sobel & Osaba (n 29).
71 Oriana, Bandiera, ‛Land reform, the market for protection, and the origins of the Sicilian mafia: Theory and evidence’, vol. 19, Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, 2003, pp. 218-244.
72 Annelise, Anderson, ‛Organised crime, mafia and governments’, in Gianluca Fiorentini & Sam Peltzman (eds), The Economics of Organised Crime, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 1995, pp. 33-54.
73 Stergios Skaperdas, ‛The political economy of organized crime: Providing protection when the state does not’, vol. 2, Economics of Governance, 2001, pp. 173-202.
74 Saferworld (n 9), p.2.
75 Spergel (n 23).
76 Marureen P. Duffy & Scott Edward Gillig (eds), Teen Gangs: A Global View, Greenwood Press, London, 2004, pp.110-111.
77 K.C. (n 67).
78 Bhandari (n 5).
79 Bogati (n 1).
80 Saferworld (n 9), p.7.
81 Franzese, Covey & Menard (n 24), p.121.
82 Dipesh Kumar KC, Social Causes of Indo-Nepal Cross-Border Crime, Brother Books, Kathmandu, 2013, p. 19.
83 KP Dhungana,, ‛ Neta-Gunda Nexus (Leader-Hooligan Nexus)’, Sukrabar, 3 May, 2011, p.1.
84 B.P.C. Bose & M.V.S. Koteswara Rao, ‛Criminalisation of Politics: Need for Fundamental Reform’, vol. 66, The Indian Journal of Political Science, 2005, pp. 733-754.
85 Shrestha (n 3).
86 The Carter Center, ‛Clashes Between Political Party Youth Wings have Decreased but YCL and UML Youth Force Continue to Seek Financial Gain’, NEWS, The Carter Center, Atlanta, 28 Feb 2011, p.35.
87 Anjana Luitel, Bishnu Raj Upreti & Ashok Rai, ‛Militarisation of the Youth: Hindering State-Building in Post-Conflict Nepal’, in Bishnu Raj Upreti et al (eds), The Remake of a State: Post-Conflict Challenges and State Building in Nepal, Kathmandu University, Kathmandu, 2010, pp. 193-209.
88 Bose & Rao (n 84).
89 Prashant Jha, ‛It Looks Like Elections’, Himal South Asia, April 2008 available at http://old.himalmag.com/component/content/article/1088-it-looks-like-elections.html accessed on 24 July 2016.
90 Ekantipur, ‛Election Round-UP’, Ekantipur.com, 19 September 2013 available at http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/printedition/news/2013-09-19/election-round-up-253803.html. accessed on 24 July 2016.