US embassy cable - 03KATHMANDU1194

UNCLAS KATHMANDU 001194 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AID/W: PLEASE PASS TO ANE/SA LYNN SAULS, EGAT/WID KATHY 
BLAKESLEE, STATE FOR SA/RA LISA KAPLAN AND G/TIP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID, OTRA, NP, Trafficking in Persons 
SUBJECT:  NEPALI TRAFFICKER SENTENCED TO 75 YEARS' 
IMPRISONMENT 
 
Ref: 2002 Kathmandu 2168 
 
1.The Nepali "Space Time Daily" reported on June 8, 2003 
that the Special Court had convicted Bhim Bahadur Basnet, 
the leader of a gang involved in selling nearly one 
hundred Nepali girls to the brothels in Pune, India. 
Basnet, an ethnic Nepali Bhutanese refugee resident in 
Nepal, was sentenced to seventy-five years' imprisonment. 
This is probably the first case since the enactment of 
the Human Trafficking Control Act of 2043 (1986) in which 
an individual convicted of trafficking has received the 
maximum sentence.  Six other traffickers received 
sentences of from twelve to thirty-six years.  The case 
began when twenty-one Nepalese girls who had been sold to 
Indian brothels were rescued by the NGO Maiti Nepal(one 
of USAID/Nepal's implementing partners in the anti- 
trafficking program); eleven of these girls subsequently 
filed a petition with the police against the gang who had 
trafficked them.  Most of the girls were between the ages 
of fifteen and twenty at the time they were sold; they 
were lured by the traffickers with promises of marriage 
or attractive jobs.  In India they were sold for between 
$800 and $1800. 
 
2.The paper described the sentences as "an historic 
decision of the Special Courts.  It is evidence of a new 
seriousness on the part of the Nepalese judiciary 
concerning its role in the fight against human 
trafficking. 
3. Comment: The U.S. "Trafficking Victims Protection Act 
of 2000" mandates that governments of affected countries 
should "prescribe punishment that is sufficiently 
stringent to deter and that adequately reflects the 
heinous nature of the offenses (Section 108a3).  The 
seventy-five year sentence handed down to Mr. Basnet 
meets these criteria, and is a break from past practice 
of meting out less stringent sentences for traffickers. 
Post is encouraged that the judiciary is beginning to 
take trafficking seriously. We will be further 
encouraging the judiciary's role through planned training 
and technical assistance under anti-trafficking and rule 
of law projects funded by INL, G/TIP, and USAID.  End 
Comment. 
 
4.  This cable has been cleared by the Embassy Pol/Econ 
section. 
 
MALINOWSKI