Twenty-seven Nepali girls who were arrested from Mahilpalpur in New Delhi by Indian security agencies recently will be repatriated on Monday, Nepali Embassy in New Delhi has said. The UAE bound girls were arrested from a local hotel, along with the trafficking racket. Two Nepali agents—Bishnu Tamang, 25, and Ishowari Neupane, 33—were also held.

The duo is in the custody of the Tihar jail in New Delhi for investigation. The Indian police had earlier arrested seven Nepali girls, also heading to UAE, from the airport in New Delhi. During interrogation, the two revealed the location of 21 Nepali girls aged 20-35 years, who were heading to Dubai. In coordination with the Nepali Embassy, these girls, after completing the court procedure, will be handed over to Nari Niketan for repatriation, the second secretary at the embassy Shivani Basnyat told the Post. According to Basnyat, the government will bear their travel costs and they will be handed over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Woman, Child, and Social Welfare. The girls were arrested some two weeks back from Terminal-3 of Indira Gandhi International Airport after Indian police got a tip-off from a person who was arrested earlier. The girls were traveling with fake documents. “We concluded that these 28 girls were brought to India through the same agents by using different dates and routes. We came to learn that several Nepali girls are being trafficked from Nepali villages via Lucknow, Gorakhpur, and Raxaul to India. It is also revealed that many such girls are being trafficked since the last two months and were kept in Mahipalpur, New Delhi,” said Basnyat. During the investigation, two employees of Air India at the airport—Manish Gupta and Kapil Kumar—had disclosed that some Nepali agents were involved in trafficking of the girls by luring them with job offers in Gulf countries. Since Indian authorities seized their citizenships and passports for investigation, these Nepali girls have been provided with travel documents by the embassy to head to Kathmandu. Many of these girls were brought to India from Pokhara, Butwal, and Kathmandu where direct bus services are available. According to Basnyat, many of them do not know where they were heading and for what work.

Out of the 28, seven were supposed to fly directly to Dubai while nine were supposed to fly Delhi-Colombo-Dubai. Among them, one Ful Maya Lama has already reached Nepal. “I paid one lakh to a local agent,” said one of the girls, Monika Bhandari of Arughat, Gorkha. These girls, mostly from Gorkha, Sindhupalchowk, Nuwakot, Kavre, and Dhading, told officials that they left their houses in search of work after the April 25 earthquake. Nepali Ambassador to India Deep Kumar Upadhyay urged officials in Nepal to investigate into the case. “We have requested officials at the Foreign and Home Ministries, immigration department, and the police in Kathmandu to undertake a serious investigation. According to statements made by the girls, local agents will be arrested and the girls will have their money reimbursed,” he said. Indian police have started operations in various international airports against human traffickers, the ambassador added.