Police arrest 50-year-old woman for alleged human trafficking
Shuvam Dhungana
The anti-trafficking bureau of Nepal Police on Wednesday arrested a woman from Budhanilkantha Municipality of Kathmandu for her alleged involvement in the trafficking of a 15-year-old girl in 2012.
The arrested woman has been identified as Krishna Maya Lama, 50, a resident of Suryagadi Rural Municipality-6, Nuwakot. The victim, who is now 22 years old, had filed a first information report (FIR) at the bureau with the support of Maiti Nepal on November 6. “Police is yet to arrest another suspect, identified as Sher Bahadur Lama,42, of Nuwakot,” said Superintendent of Police Anupam Shumsher Rana.
According to police, Lama is a distant relative of the victim, who used to work at a hotel in Kathmandu before she was trafficked to India.
Lama had reportedly taken the victim to India by promising her education and financial support, Rana said. “In the hope to get a good education, the victim left her job and went along with Lama, who gave her anaesthesia and sold her to a brothel,” said Rana. “Lama had reportedly sold the girl for IRs 10,000 to two women named Laxmi and Hema at Madhun, India.”
“I was kept in Madhun for one month where the two women gave me injections and medicines which they said would make me look younger,” the victim stated in her FIR. “After one month, I was taken to a brothel in New Delhi. I was kept in room No. 511 for nearly two months before I was sent to room No. 64, where I spent two years. After that, I was taken to room No. 40, where I stayed for 15 days.” After spending nearly seven years in the brothel, the victim had managed to leave with the help of a Nepali man, a client.“The man visited me and I told him my whole story. He helped me secure my freedom. I was let go after signing an agreement with the brothel operators,” the girl told police. The victim had come in contact with Maiti Nepal, Nepalgunj, while returning home.
“The Maiti Nepal team in Nepalgunj had sent the victim to the organisation’s head office in Kathmandu” said Rana. “We are investigating into the case and looking for the second suspect.”
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