Jhapa, Apanga mahila yaun durbewahar ko shikar. Uma (name changed), now 25, of Birtamod Municipality-5 can hardly move her hands. Physically-challenged since childhood, she needs a cane or the support of another person to walk. Every morning her parents went to work leaving Uma alone at home. They had never thought what could befall her when left lonely like that. [BREAK] On December 4, after returning from work, her parents were shocked as Uma was not at home. After hours of search, Uma’s father found her at Balram BK’s room. BK was living in a rented room in the neighborhood since a few years. Uma had been raped. BK had lured Uma to his room and raped her. “We had left her alone at home like every other day. We thought that she would be safe, but we were wrong,” said a close relative of Uma. BK was arrested immediately after Uma’s parents filed a complaint against him. Similar incident occurred at Dhaejan VDC-6 of Jhapa district recently. A thirty-six years old single woman, suffering from physical disability, was raped by her neighbor Khagendra Silwal. Taking advantage of being alone at home, Silwal had sneaked inside the house and raped her. Three months ago, another physically fragile woman had fallen in the hands of a rapist in the same village. According to police report, in the last six months, six physically disabled women have been raped in various parts of Jhapa district. “We are seeing a sudden rise in rapes cases. The situation might be much worse given that few dare to speak openly in such cases,” said an officer at Jhapa District Court. According to Sub inspector Milan Kumari Rai, 15 cases of child rape cases have been registered in Jhapa this year alone. “We are making best efforts to control such rape cases,” said Rai.