Kathmandu, August 26

Police have arrested a person on the charge of raping a minor in Nepaltar, Tarkeshwor Municipality-11.

Officials said Sajan Bohara, 18, of Budhinanda Municipality-10, Bajura, who currently resided in Tarkeshwor, was held and kept in police custody for legal action after the 14-year-old girl complained of being raped by him on Friday.

According to an FIR lodged by the girl, Bohara had raped her in an eatery where she worked.

Kathmandu District Court has remanded him to seven-day judicial custody for further investigation into the case. This incident has come into the spotlight when the government is under mounting pressure to bring to book the perpetrators of the rape and subsequent murder of 13-year-old girl Nirmala Panta in Kanchanpur district.

On July 28, police arrested two Armed Police Force constables for raping a woman at a guest house in Kalanki. According to Kalimati-based Metropolitan Police Circle, it held APF constables Ram Sharan Pokharel and Chandra Bahadur Pachhai. Pokharel is the prime accused in the rape case, officials said.

The heinous crime of rape continues unabated despite enforcement of stringent laws against the crime. According to statistics released by Metropolitan Police Office, as many as four cases of rape and seven cases of attempted rape have been reported in Kathmandu over the last one-and-a-half months.

Police recorded 186 such cases in the fiscal 2017-18 compared to 136 in 2016-17 and 135 in 2015-16. It shows significant increase in rape cases, making the valley a dangerous place for women and girls.

Officials attribute the increase in reported rape cases to more women coming forward due to greater public awareness.