Kathmandu, October 25

Police have arrested a person on the charge of attempting to rape a minor in Soaltee Mode, Kathmandu Metropolitan City-13.

According to Central Police News Section, Samir Pulami, 30, of Chhireshwor Municipality-3, Dhanusha, who had been living in Soaltee Mode, was sent to custody yesterday for legal action after the 14-year-old girl and her parents filed a complaint of attempted rape against him at Metropolitan Police Circle, Kalimati.

Pulami had allegedly attempted to rape the girl when she was alone in her rented room on Friday.  Kathmandu District Court has remanded him to seven-day judicial custody for further investigation into the case.

This incident has come to light 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.

The heinous crime of rape continue unabated despite enforcement of stringent laws against the crime. According to statistics released by Metropolitan Police Office, as many as 15 cases of rape and 16 cases of attempted rape have been reported in Kathmandu since mid-July in the current fiscal.

On August 25, police arrested Sajan Bohara, 18, of Bajura for raping a minor in Nepaltar, Tarkeshwor Municipality-11, Kathmandu. According to an FIR lodged by the girl, Bohara had raped her in an eatery where she worked. On July 28, police arrested two Armed Police Force constables —  Ram Sharan Pokharel and Chandra Bahadur Pachhai — for raping a woman at a guest house in Kalanki.

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 in the valley.