Over 1,500 women rescued from Jamunaha border

By Siraj Khan,Nepalgunj, Mar. 12: The Jamunaha border point between Nepal and India in Nepalgunj has emerged as one of the most high-risk points for human trafficking, with hundreds of women and girls intercepted each year while attempting to cross into India.

According to activists working at the border, the number of women travelling under suspicious or risky circumstances has been steadily rising, turning the crossing into a hotspot for trafficking concerns.

Local anti-trafficking organisation Maiti Nepal said it has been rescuing large numbers of vulnerable women and girls from the Jamunaha checkpoint every year. However, many others who cannot be intercepted are believed to slip across the border into India.

Keshav Koirala, coordinator of Maiti Nepal’s Nepalgunj branch, said the trend has remained persistent despite regular rescue operations.

“In the past year alone, we rescued 1,538 people who were at risk of being  trafficked and sent them back home from the Jamunaha border,” he said.

Among those rescued, 335 women and children were from Banke district itself.

Data from Maiti Nepal Nepalgunj shows that most of those intercepted came from various local municipalities: 80 from Kohalpur, 68 from Baijanath, 56 from Nepalgunj, 47 from Khajura, 45 from Raptisonari, 20 from Janaki, 10 from Narainapur and nine from Duduwa.

During the same period, the organisation also received 833 complaints seeking help to trace missing women and children. Of them, 437 have so far been found, while the search for the remaining individuals is still ongoing. In Banke district alone, 119 people had been reported missing, of whom 114 were eventually located.

Koirala said that the methods used by traffickers are also evolving. With the rapid spread of social media, internet access and modern technology, traffickers are finding new ways to lure victims, making prevention increasingly difficult.

He added that the western districts of Banke and Bardiya, which share open borders with India, remain particularly vulnerable to human trafficking.