KATHMANDU: Kiran Tamang of Roshi Rural Municipality, Kavre, who can speak Chinese wooed Rasmita Kunwar (name change) of Babarmahal, Kathmandu tempting her with marriage and employment and took her to Hedge City of Shandong Province, China via Tribhuvan International Airport on January 10, 2020.

According to the police, Kiran went there himself and handed her over to Tampo Thong and came back to Nepal.
Gradually, the Chinese started sexually abusing the girl and kept her hostage in his house.

Then only she realized that she was sold out.

The young girl was literate enough to read and write informed her family through social media that she had become a victim.

After receiving the news that she had been sold, the Human Trafficking Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police rescued her in coordination with Nepal’s Embassy in China and the police. A team of the Bureau managed to arrest Kiran on allegations of trafficking on December 29.

According to the Bureau’s SP Sharada Prasad Chaudhary, the Chinese man has admitted to the police that he had got her ‘brought to China for marriage’.

The men flee after forcing the young girls and women to take to prostitution or work in hotels and restaurants in China.

“Based on the complaint of the victim, we have succeeded in arresting the culprit of the incident and the accused has already admitted the guilt,” SP Chaudhary told the Khabarhub.

This is one of the latest incidents of Nepali women being trafficked to China.

According to SP Chaudhary, the cases of smuggling of Nepali girls to China tempting them of marriage are on the rise of late.

Some examples of the last five years

Santoshi Rai (name changed), 21, who got married in Yunchean County of Shandong Province, China on January 3, 2015, was rescued by the Nepali Embassy and brought to Kathmandu.

This girl from Kavre was rescued by the embassy in June 2015. Santoshi was married to Wu Fusing, 25, of Sandong and had registered their marriage at District Administration Office Kathmandu. But, after she reached China, she had to pass time in captivity.

Likewise, Bhujuna Tamang(name change) of Sindhupalchowk had also reached to Hubei Province of China marrying Yin Xiaobo on September 3, 2014. After arriving in China, she found herself in hellish life. Her husband and Chinese family were too rude.

Sunita’s family also beat up two Nepali women who had gone to visit her.

August 1, 2015: Sangita Limbu (name change) 22 from Dharan who had reached Halungchang Province, China after getting married on August 1, 2015, was abused by her husband physically and mentally for quite a long time. The mother-in-law and husband were tortured badly.

The other four Nepali women who had been to China were pregnant but she was not. She was brutally punished for the same. Sangita, who ran away from home, was rescued by the Nepali embassy and brought back to Nepal.

The Human Trafficking Investigation Bureau of Nepal police arrested 10 members of a gang involved in trafficking Nepali girls to China under the guise of marriage in August 2019.

The bureau rescued four women victims and arrested 10 people, including six Nepalis and four Chinese nationals.
These are some representative cases of trafficking to China.

According to Nepal Police, 46 cases of human trafficking through fake marriage have been registered in the last five years.

Out of them, most are cases that are related to Chinese and few are also related to the Koreans.
The officials say that most of such cases do not reach the police.

According to the experts, Nepali girls have been trafficked to China by showing attracting temptations including lucrative jobs, great facilities, and red passports. The police have got 2 cases of such marriages in this fiscal year.

Reasons for girls trafficking in China

According to the experts, as there are more men than women in china, it is difficult to find a girl to marry in some places in China. China which has a population of 1.4 billion has been in experiencing a shortage of girls for marriage.

According to SP Chaudhary of Human Trafficking Investigation Bureau, who is investigating the smuggling, the prevalent Chinese custom is not much friendly to the marriage of the poor as the people with low incomes are deprived of getting married as the bridegroom has to pay a lot of money and wealth to the bride.

Thus, those who are in trouble to get married in China go to Nepal, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar, Cambodia and other countries in search of young women.

They contact the local broker including the man who runs a marriage bureau to find a woman and pay a few bucks to buy a wife and go to China.

The girls married this way experience many cultural barriers in adjustment. They do not have the skills to work too. Again, if they are unable to have children, they will be subjected to extreme torture.

Bargain at Rs 1 to 1.5 million

According to former DIG Hemanta Malla, who had also taken the command of the Special Bureau of Nepal Police, the brothers in Nepal take Rs 1 million to 1.5 million from Chinese sides to supply the girls and women.

“Chinese citizens and the brokers tempt Nepali girls and women of lucrative salary, Chinese visas and the luxury in China,” former DIG Malla told Khabarhub, “they adopt this method as the trafficking turns more comfortable when

the women are married and the marriage is registered here.”

The traffickers regard this method as a comfortable way of human trafficking.

Yet, the investigation shows that most of the women transported to China end in prostitution.

“Our investigation of the rescued women and girls has shown that most of the young women taken from Nepal to China as brides are sent are forced to take prostitution,” SP Chaudhary of the Human Trafficking Investigation Bureau said.

The men flee after forcing the young girls and women to take to prostitution or work in hotels and restaurants in China.