On November 19, 2012, a young woman arrived in the Tribhuvan
International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal. Sita Rai (a pseudonym)
was returning from working as a domestic in Saudi Arabia. Upon
arrival at the airport, immigration officials noticed that she was
traveling on a fake passport and detained her along with fifteen
other women. After a few hours in detention, an immigration officer,
Somnath Khanal, demanded a bribe of Rs (Nepalese Rupees) 218,000—
around $2500 USD—to ensure that she would not be prosecuted for
traveling without documentation. Sita paid the bribe and lost most of
the money she had earned while working abroad. Khanal let Sita go
on November 21, 2012, and a police officer, Parsuram Basnet, offered
to escort Sita to a bus park to return home. He took her to a lodge near
the bus park and repeatedly raped her.