KATHMANDU, MAY 5

Kathmandu police have arrested a school teacher on the charge of raping his 14-yearold student inside a guest house in Kathmandu today.

Sambhu Lama, 29, a permanent resident of Bhimeshwor Municipality, Dolakha, had lured his student, an eighth grader to Kathmandu valley and kept her in a guest house named Dhorpatan Hotel in Sundhara.

Police said he had asked the girl to join him so that he could help her with studies and manage tuition classes for her. He teaches at a private school in Gorkha. After keeping the girl in the hotel, he raped her repeatedly for two days, until he was arrested this morning.

Police came to know about the incident after the girl's parents sought police help to find their teenage daughter, who had gone missing since May 3.

Acting on a tip-off, police raided the hotel room and rescued the teenage girl. The man, however, had already fled the scene. Police arrested Lama a few hours later from Baneshwor area.

Superintendent of Police Ramesh Bista of Metropolitan Police Range, Kathmandu, said that a special team of Nepal Police arrested the man as soon as they got information about the case. 'We are further investigating the case to find if the man had abused other students too in the past,' said Bista.

The girl's parents filed a case of abduction and rape against Lama. Having physical relationship with girls below 18 years of age is considered rape in Nepal as per the Criminal Code even if the relationship is consensual.

A version of this article appears in the print on May 6, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.