Police rescues 12 Nepali girls being trafficked to India

Kathmandu: The police have rescued 12 Nepali girls being trafficked to India. Of them, four were rescued from the Indian border in Parsa district and the remaining from India. The girls were taken to the border from Balaju in Kathmandu under the pretext of providing a job at musical programmes in Siraha and Sarlahi districts in Nepal, it has been said. They were lured with Rs 2,000 each for a stage show.

The girls were divided into various groups after reaching a forest in Pathalaiya and were taken to the Indian border and then to India through an alternative transit in Parsa district, said Indra Raj Bhattarai, director of a social organisation, Afanta Nepal, which helped rescue the trafficked girls. The rescued girls are now under the care of the Afanta Nepal.

A man who accompanied them has been arrested by the police. The girls were trafficked to India taking advantage of their poverty, unemployment and ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, said Bhattarai.