Manoj Paudel

Six Nepali women who were taken to Delhi on the pretext of sending them to Iraq and Qatar for foreign employment were rescued and brought to the Krishnanagar border point in Kapilvastu on Friday. The victims, aged 26 to 41, had been stranded in the Indian Capital for the past three months.

According to the rescued women, the local agents of their respective district took them to Delhi with the promise of lucrative jobs in Iraq and Qatar.

“They told us they would send us abroad for free,” one of the six women told the Post.

Among the six women brought to the country on Friday, four are from Morang district and one each from Jhapa and Parbat. According to them, the local agents took them to Kathmandu in the third week of February where they met with the main agent and acquired their passports. 

“The agent in Kathmandu convinced us that we should not miss an opportunity of getting a good job in Iraq and Qatar,” said another rescued woman.

The trafficked women handed over their passports to the agent soon after they acquired them. They were first taken to Butwal through Pokhara, kept at a hotel in Dang for a night and brought to Nepalgunj, where they stayed for two more nights before entering India through the Jamunaha-Rupaidiha border in Banke. They reached Delhi on March 13.

According to the women, they were locked inside a house in Jharoda, Delhi, soon after reaching the city. 

“The agents went out of contact after the Indian government enforced lockdown in the third week of March. Their cell phones were switched off. We got help from the local people, who provided us with food. We telephoned relatives and asked them to rescue us,” said one of the trafficked women. 

Their relatives contacted the police and the Ministry of Home Affairs, urging them to rescue the stranded. They were finally rescued in an initiation of the Nepal Embassy in New Delhi and Deshbhakta Aawaj, a social organisation based in Delhi.

The rescued women are all set to lodge a complaint at the Crime Investigation Bureau against the agents who lured them to Delhi promising foreign employment.

“We are planning to go to Kathmandu to help investigate the case further,” they said.

The women are now taking shelter at the Peace Rehabilitation Centre in Kapilvastu.

“Process is underway to send the women to Kathmandu,” said Inspector Pratap Paudel at the Area Police Office in Krishnanagar. 

Published on: 5 July 2020 | The Kathmandu Post