Five Nepalese arrested over trafficking girls to India

Five Nepalese nationals have been arrested from southern Nepal on charges of trafficking girls to India, police said on Thursday.

Sher Bahadur Chepang and his wife were arrested from Madi Municipality in Chitawan district on Wednesday after the couple handed over a 12-year-old girl to a man to traffic her to Delhi on the pretext of marrying her.

However, the girl was rescued with the help of the police and Maiti Nepal, a non-governmental organisation working against girls trafficking, from Kanchanpur district in far- west Nepal. In a separate incident, three other traffickers including Govinda Mahato were arrested on Tuesday from Kaule village of the same district on charges of trafficking a 16-year-old girl to Mumbai.

The three had tried to sell the teenage girl to a Mumbai brothel, according to police.