By YKA Staff:
Published on March 6, an investigation by YKA’s Soma Basu revealed how women from Nepal are trafficked to India, lured into brothels and their skin “stolen” and used for cosmetic surgeries. “Skin is in huge demand. A 100-inch square piece of fair skin sells for Rs 50,000 to Rs 1,00,000 in Delhi and Mumbai. Agents take women till the Indo-Nepal border. […] The women have to sign that they have donated the skin and not sold it,” said 40-year-old trafficker Prem Basgai, as quoted in the story.
As per a March 10 report on Reuters, Kumar Khadka, Nepal’s Women, Child and Social Welfare Minister, has said that they are “stunned by the report”. “We will investigate and if found to be correct, the government will make all efforts to stop this heinous crime and punish those responsible,” Khadka said.
News reports have also said that while “…trafficking of Nepalis from the impoverished Himalayan nation to neighbouring India for labour and sexual exploitation – and even kidney transplantation – is widely reported, […] cases of trafficking in human skin tissue are unheard of.”
Since Basu’s story was published, it has been read by over 300,000 times and has been shared almost 40,000 times on social media, with many demanding action.