News Summary
Prepared after editorial review.
- Lumbini Province Assembly Member Rekha Sharma has been arrested by the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Team in Dhumbarahi.
March 30, Kathmandu: Lumbini Province Assembly Member Rekha Sharma has been arrested.
The Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Team apprehended her a short while ago. She was arrested from Dhumbarahi, Kathmandu.
She faces allegations of keeping a minor girl at her home and subjecting her to child labor.
A file recommending no charges against Sharma was prepared by the District Government Attorney’s Office in Kathmandu and had passed through the Senior Government Attorney’s Office to the Attorney General’s Office.
During the rescue of the girl, representatives from the Metropolitan Municipality Police, ward officials, and the police themselves arrived at the scene and collected evidence.
What are the facts of the case?
Some interns attached to Kathmandu Metropolitan had been conducting a survey about the education of children studying in community schools but living separately from their parents. During this survey, it was discovered that the minor girl was being exploited through forced labor.
The minor girl, who had been living and working at Assembly Member Sharma’s house for six years, reported being physically abused.
According to the minor, the landlord’s family (the family of Province Assembly Member Rekha Kumari Sharma) would beat her with hands and sticks and force her to do chores such as mopping, cooking, and watering plants.
She also complained that she had not been allowed to visit her family for six years and was denied permission to return home even during the Dashain festival. The panel also held a private discussion with her when examining the survey documents. After detecting signs of torture, Kathmandu Metropolitan Municipality filed a police complaint against Assembly Member Sharma.
Given the dire condition of the minor, the Metropolitan Municipality task force rescued her and placed her in a protection home. During the rescue, the Metropolitan Police, ward representatives, and Nepal Police gathered evidence at the site.
The girl’s father arrived in Kathmandu and filed a habeas corpus petition in the Supreme Court.
