Kathmandu, September 10

Police yesterday rescued two minor girls, aged 11 and 14, who were lured and held captive in Kirtipur since September 4. The younger girl was raped multiple times.

The girls, studying in Grades V and VIII, were residing in Imadol, Lalitpur, and left home after the younger one had a dispute with her elder sister with whom she had been residing.

The elder sister filed a missing person complaint about the duo in Satdobato police station the day they went missing.

According to police, the girls took a local bus and were heading towards Ratnapark when 25-year-old Hem Bahadur Khatri met them in the bus at Baneshwor and befriended them.

Khatri, a permanent resident of Ghodaghodi Ward No 1 in Kailali, lured them to a rented room in Kirtipur, where he had been living alone.

Senior Superintendent of Police Basanta Kumar Lama at Metropolitan Police Range, Kathmandu, said Khatri raped the 11-year-old multiple times till the night of September 8.

Her friend, who according to police, was not raped, called her family on the night of September 8 from Khatri’s cellphone.

Khatri left the elder girl at Balkhu chowk yesterday. Her family picked her from there with the help of police. The police also rescued the other girl from Khatri’s room at 6:00pm.

SSP Lama said Khatri had been arrested. “Even if it is proven that he had consensual physical relations with the girl, Khatri will be charged with rape, since the girl is a minor.” Age for consensual sex in Nepal is 18.

Khatri will also be charged with kidnapping.