Manoj Kumar Jaisi, also known as Manoj Pandey, who faces human trafficking and child sexual abuse charges, has been sent to custody by Kathmandu District Court until the final verdict.

The single bench of Justice Prakash Dhungana on Monday issued the order against Pandey.

The District Attorney Office in Kathmandu had filed a case last Thursday at the district court demanding a jail term of 18 years for Pandey on human trafficking and child sexual abuse crimes.

According to superintendent Dinesh Raj Mainali of Kathmandu Metropolitan Police Range, Pandey has been sent to Dillibazar Prison.

“We had investigated him under human trafficking and child sexual abuse law after receiving two complaints on different dates,” said Mainali. “The investigation reports were submitted to the District Attorney’s Office on June 10 and June 13.”

Police on May 21 had arrested Pandey, the owner of Model Global Visas Consultancy, after a woman went on on social media claiming that Pandey had raped her some eight years ago. She was 16 then.

In a series of videos first posted on Tiktok, the woman shared details of how Pandey, who was the organiser of a pageant called Miss Global International 2014, drugged and raped her in a hotel room. The woman also shared that she was abused by Pandey repeatedly for six months during which he invited one of his friends as well where they abused her sexually.

Because of the statute of limitations, which stipulates a time limit of one year to file rape and sexual violence cases, the case was filed under Human Trafficking and Transportation (Control) Act 2007.

In Nepal, there is no statute of limitations on human trafficking-related cases.

Section 4 (2b) of the Act defines trafficking as “taking anyone from his/her home, place of residence or from a person by any means such as enticement, inducement, misinformation, forgery, tricks, coercion, abduction, hostage, allurement, influence, threat, abuse of power and by means of inducement, fear, threat or coercion to the guardian or custodian and keeping him/her in one’s custody or taking to any place within Nepal or abroad or handing him/her over to somebody else for the purpose of prostitution and exploitation.”

After the incident surfaced on social media, another minor filed a case against Pandey on May 22 under child sexual abuse.