Two jailed for 17 years
The Kathmandu Post
Kathmandu, Dec 02
The Kathmandu District Court on Monday slapped 17-year jail on two individuals for molesting orphans sheltered at Bal Mandir, a non-government network of orphanages across the country.
A single bench of Justice Pashupati Acharya convicted Rabin Shrestha, former head of adoptions at Bal Mandir, and Rabin Chalise, a former student who ran a Youth Club at the shelter, for sexually exploiting the minors there. Both will be locked up for 16-and-a-half years. The three victims also stand to receive Rs 100,000 each in compensation.
The duo has been in police custody since June 17. Initially, the case was handled by the Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police. The CIB probe showed that the duo molested the girls on numerous occasions. Medical reports and victims’ statements had clearly suggested that the girls were raped.
Activists from Action for Child Rights International-Nepal had presented testimonies of the abused to the CIB. In the complaint, they had said Shrestha and Chalise raped and molested the children, two of them autistic, repeatedly.
Almost one-and-a-half years ago, a visually impaired girl adopted by a foreigner had complained of similar sexual harassment by Shrestha. When her mother tried to file a case, she was barred citing the 35-day statute of limitations. Following the incident, the Forum for Women, Law and Development has filed a case in Supreme Court seeking a change in the 35-day time limit and action against Shrestha in the case.
Posted on: 2014-12-03
http://np.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2014/12/02/top-story/two-jailed-for-17-years/270357.html
For more on Rabin Shrestha & Rabin Chalise, see Pound Pup Legacy:
Nepal Children’s Organization (NCO/Bal Mandir) — child trafficking, corruption and sexual abuse
http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/73445
Ethics, Transparency, Support
~ What All Adoptions Deserve.
http://www.pear-now.org/