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On 15 February, Dailekh District Court sentenced 36-year-old Mankumari Bista of Bhairabi Rural Municipality-1 Gairakhadi to seven years in prison and ordered the convict to pay compensation of NPR 10,000 to the victims for the crime of trafficking four girls aged 16 to 17 years. Dailekh District Court Information Officer Subba Tikaram Neupane informed that the decision was made by a single bench of District Judge Balram Lamsal confirming that the four girls were sent for the purpose of being lured and trafficked.

According to the verdict, section 15 of the Human Trafficking and Transportation Control Act, 2007, mandates the guilty to be imprisoned for seven to 10 years and each of the victims to be paid compensation. Based on section 41 of the Crime Victims Protection Act 2018, the verdict states that the offender must pay 1,300 rupees to the Victim Relief Fund. ‘You will get employment, you will earn a lot of money’ The victim complained to the police on the 24 of April that the secret was revealed when he was sent back to Nepalgunj on 24 of April with the help of Maiti Nepal.

The accused sent the victim on 24 April to reach Delhi, taught how to use the means of transport and when crossing the Indian border from Nepalganj, he had asked the victims to say ‘they would only reach Rupaidiha market’, but Maiti Nepal stopped him at the border and contacted the girl’s family.

According to the girls who returned home, they had contacted agents in Delhi for the purpose of trafficking. The then in-charge DSP Bhuvneshwar Sah hesitated to register the case, but after a month’s delay, the complaint of the victims was registered only on the 1 june. After the registration of the case, based on the investigation done by the police, the District Public Prosecutor’s Office registered a charge related to trafficking in the Dailekh District Court on 27 June . The accused was sent to Dailekh prison for pre-trial detention on 30 June by the bench of District Judge Dandpani Lamichhane.

Amar Sunar