The Indian capital city, Delhi, is fast becoming a major transit route for trafficking of Nepalese girls to countries of the Gulf. Recently, 28 women from Nepal, who were allegedly being trafficked, were rescued from Indirapuram in the Ghaziabad district of the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh.
All the women were within the age group of 20 to 30 years. They were rescued from two flats in the Sarjan Vihar society on Nyay Khand in Indirapuram. They were allegedly kept there by an agent who promised them jobs in Iraq and Kuwait as domestic help or beauticians.
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The desperation of women living in poor rural areas is exploited by unscrupulous traffickers who dupe their victims with false promises of well-paid and dignified jobs in the Gulf countries.
Although Nepal's government has banned women from working in the Gulf countries, human traffickers send them through other channels. The agents use India as a transit route and send Nepali girls/women to various Gulf countries from Delhi.
A study conducted by Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Indian border police guarding the India-Nepal border, on "Human Trafficking on Indo-Nepal Border" claims the number of victims brought illegally into India has gone up by 500 percent after the devastating earthquake which hit Nepal in 2015.
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According to the study, in 2013, 108 women were rescued at the India-Nepal border, while 607 women were rescued in 2017. According to the SSB study, 26 of Nepal's 75 districts are trafficking prone.
Earlier, in August, the Delhi Commission for Women rescued 39 Nepali women from Delhi's Paharganj area who were on the verge of being sent to Gulf countries.
In July, 16 Nepali women were rescued from a house in the Munirka area of Delhi. The women were allegedly taken hostage by agents on the pretext of sending them to Iraq, Kuwait, and Dubai.