Pardafas Reporter
File Photo
At a first glance Jamuna, (name change) looks like a typical young Nepali mother in her mid-20s. But, it’s hard to believe Jamuna is only 16-years old holding her toddler baby carelessly wrapped around hands into her breast.
Unlike other girls in her teenage, Jamuna has gone through a very tough times, as she was recently rescued as commercial sex workers from Mulpani area of Kathmandu.
Jamuna, was rescued by Maiti Nepal from a house of Ram Sharan Gotame and his wife Sita, who had turned their three-and-half storey building into a brothel.
Jamuna’s ordeal began when her long time boyfriend ranaway refusing to accept the newly born child, with whom she had eloped around two years ago.
After she was left all alone, her father asked Jasmine to work as a domestic help at Gotame’s house who was also his friend.There, she had found around a dozen other girls like her who were living in the building as tenants.
The Gotame couple, in fact, used to provide the room in their house as rent to the young girls and operated a brothel from the same house. Sita, used to forced the girl into sex work for multiple people as some of the girls in Maiti Nepal told they had to had sex with over 15 men in a day.
Despite, the sexual exploitation, Sita would not provide them with enough money for their saving as the income they made were only sufficient to sustain two times of meal. “The landlady used to provide us with food and clothes on credit which we would had to pay them back through our income. But,no matter how many times we had to sleep with men, we could not make money for saving,” said Jamuna.
Similar cases of commercial sexual exploitation can be a common sighting when one enters a dark and damp ‘khaja ghar’ a typical Nepali eateries around Jadibuti area of Kathmandu district. Here, hundreds of young girl, who often lie about their age by saying over 20 years are seen working as waiter, or hotel staff but are forced into prostitution.
Police had recently arrested Umesh Thapa, 21, of Udaypur after a young girl Radha, (name changed) who was rescued by Shakti Samuha agreed to file a complaint with police.
Radha had come to Kathmandu from Sindhupalchowk to earn a little money and continue her high school, and landed at a hotel there. After some time Thapa be friended her and offered a more lucrative job at his own hotel.
But, within a few days Thapa asked her to indulge into sex work in a bid to earn handsome money. At first the 17-years old girl refuses but upon coercing, and threatening the young girl accepted the work.It was already over two years into the prostitution when she was rescued by police, who agreed to file a complaint against Thapa.
Jamuna and Radha are two representative figures of hundreds of girls inside the Kathmandu valley who are forced into commercial sexual exploitation. The pimps and traffickers often compel these girls to do drugs, make them alcoholic and smokers, making it difficult for them to live a normal life if they wanted. So, after few years into forced prostitution there are veryhigh chances that these girls become permanent sex workers or face other grave consequences.
Bishwo Khadka, chairperson of Maiti Nepal, said that commercial sexual exploitation of minor girls has so much increased in the capital that one can find victims of such crimes in every nooks and corners in the city. Further he added that the sex profession inside the valley has advanced from the covertly operated entertainment sector which was common a few years ago into a more direct, vulgar and rampant manner.
He opined that apart from the social aspect of these girls being victims as they come from under privileged backgrounds, lack of stringent action against the perpetrators are also found to be one major reason.
Most of the times rescued victims also turn hostile against the accused as they are intimidated by them or maybe they don’t find any hope beside the support from the pimps themselves. “Had there been efficient action against the culprits, such atrocities would have drastically decreased, but most of the time, the accused perpetrator would go unpunished,” said Khadka.
He also said that the security forces, authorities,stakeholders and lawmakers should come up together with stringent rules and regulations to stop these illegal activities.
There are no provisions in the country that say commercial sex work is legal or illegal in the country. However, it is clear that even consensual sex with minor girls are consider rape. In this context, the authorities have done precious little in this matter.
