Kathmandu, February 7
The Kathmandu District Court has handed down a jail sentence of seven years to human trafficking convict Manoj Pandey, a beauty pageant host, in connection with a nine-year-old rape case.
A single bench of Judge Deepak Dhakal issued the determined length of the sentence on Monday although he was convicted some two weeks ago.
Along with the jail term, the court says Pandey should pay a compensation of Rs 75,000 to the survivor.
The case came to the surface in May 2022 after the survivor exposed this on social media. Following that, stakeholders, activists and civil society put pressure on the government to prosecute him even though the case was old.
Following her video, a series of protests took place around the country demanding justice for the survivor. There was even pressure to remove the statute of limitations on rape that had made it hard for the survivor to file a complaint against Pandey.
