5 Indian women rescued from sex racket in Nepal

Five Indian women trafficked to Nepal for flesh trade have been rescued by the police here, according to a media report.

The women were rescued by the police with the support of Maiti Nepal, a nongovernmental organisation which has earlier worked to rescue Nepalese girls trafficked to Indian cities, The Himalayan Times reported.

"The number of girls rescued is just the tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds of other girls like me in this area (Gaushala)," said one of the rescued women, who hails from Motihari in Bihar.

The woman said she was trafficked to Kathmandu by her brother-in-law after her husband suffered a mental disorder.

Another rescued woman said she was trafficked by her boyfriend Raju Singh from her hometown Bardhaman in West Bengal. Singh brought her to Kathmandu on the pretext of marriage, the woman said.

"Sex trade is not a black and white affair in Nepal because prostitution is banned in the country. There are no organised places such as brothels where commercial sex workers are housed.

"Everything happens in informal settings like hotels located on Tilganga-Gaushala stretch," said Uma Tamang, legal officer at Maiti Nepal.