Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) is planning to file one more case against the two traffickers who had allegedly ferried 27 Nepali women in lure of foreign employment to India last month.

CIB, which has currently filed a case under Human Trafficking and Transportation Act, is planning to file a second case under Foreign Employment Act against Sujil Rai of Khotang and Raj Babu Shrestha of Mohattari.

The rationale behind this, according to SP Kiran Bajracharya of CIB, is to provide maximum compensation for trafficked victims and also ensure that the culprits face maximum punishment.

“During our investigation, victims were more worried about getting back their money they had paid to the traffickers and seeking ways to get more compensation rather than punishing the culprits. That propelled us to find ways to get the best of both,” explained Bajracharya. CIB last week had made public Rai and Shrestha on charges of women trafficking.

As per Human Trafficking and Transportation Act, a person found guilty will be fined up to Rs 200,000 and up to twenty years in prison while a person found guilty under Foreign Employment Act will have to pay compensation from Rs 300,000 to 500,000 and face sentence up to seven years.

According to Bajracharya, she had consulted legal experts about the possibility of filing two cases at civil court and criminal court against a person and whether or not such practice would put the culprit under double jeopardy. “This will be the first instance where the Bureau has filed a case of trafficking under Foreign Employment Act in order to provide maximum punishment to the culprits who have come up with new ways to lure women,” she said.

According to justice Tek Narayan Kunwar the cases can be filed separately at the criminal court and civil court. “There is no need to worry about perpetrator facing double jeopardy,” said Kunwar.

Experts have been complaining that lack clear demarcation between trafficking and foreign employment has given traffickers an opportunity to traffic women under the disguise of foreign employment by exploiting legal loopholes. Human Trafficking case is filed by the police at the court while Foreign Employment case is filed at Department of Foreign Employment. According to officials, they have found that most of the times, victims want to file case under  Foreign Employment Act while police and organisation working against trafficking prefer to lodge case under Human Trafficking and Transportation Act.

Stakeholders even complained about a conflict between police who refuse to admit such under foreign employment act, while the Department of Foreign Employment insist such matters are related with foreign employment. Legal advisor of Maiti Nepal Uma Tamang hailed CIB’s decision saying this will pave path to fight cases against trafficking committed under the veil of foreign employment.

“We too faced the same dilemma and now with CIB taking initiative it will be easy for us to fight legal battles for victims who come in our shelter,” said Tamang.