DHARAN, April 9: Every year, thousands of youths fly to the Gulf countries from Nepal in search of employment to secure the future of their families. Bishnu Shrestha of Dharan-5, Thingabari is one of such youths.
Eleven years ago, he had tied the knot with Tika Pradhan of Morang. Bishnu who had already spent five years in foreign employment continued with his job even after marriage. Initially, he used to visit home time and again and had a son and a daughter. He had kept his wife and children in a rented room of Thingabari. He had even invested on a cosmetic shop for his wife.
But for the last five years, he was unable to return home due to his busy schedule. His wife herself had insisted him to work hard and return home with loads of money for building their dream home. As requested by his wife, he had even bought a land nearby their rented room. He had registered the land in the name of his wife. Finally, he returned home on February 19, eager to meet his loved ones. His life took a new twist five days after his return.
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After attending a marriage ceremony for the daughter of his sister-in-law, he left his wife at the cosmetics shop and returned home. He hasn't seen her since then.
Later, he was astonished to know that his wife had eloped with her former lover Maniram Rai.
It might not have been a big deal had his wife eloped without taking all his hard-earned property. Now, Bishnu has moved to Dharan along with his 10-year-old son and six-year-old daughter. He has nothing left in the name of assets and has instead been paying fees and fulfilling other needs of his children with the loan taken from relatives.
He wandered from place to place in search of his wife and even filed a police complaint but still couldn't find her. "She took all my property which was worth Rs 9 million. There is not even a single penny left in my bank account," laments Bishnu. According to him, his wife and her lover must have planned to run away with all his property beforehand. When Bishnu reached to his in-laws' house, he found out that she had acquired a new citizenship from Rangeli of Morang by stating that she was unmarried. She took advantage of the lack of records in Rangeli as the government documents were destroyed during the decade-long civil war.
He even suspects that his wife might have been trying to go abroad by making a new citizenship and passport. He has been pleading to journalists and media persons to help him expose his wife as he says his complaint has been neglected by police. Tika's lover Maniram is a former Maoist combatant. Maniram's wife to has filed a complaint with the police, according to Bishnu. "I just want her to give me back my money so that I can secure the future of my children," Bishnu said.
However, he is not the only person to file complaint such case. There are piles of similar complaints registered at the Area Police Office, Dharan. As informed by Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Yagya Kumari Subedi, a total of 191 applications have been filed for missing women and children. And 80 % of the applications are for missing woman. "In most of these cases, wives are found eloping with their lovers in the absence of their husbands who are abroad for foreign employment," said ASI Subedi.
According to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Rameshwar Poudel, foreign employment is contributing to the economy of the country but it is also leading to family disintegration.
"This has mostly affected the mental and physical development of children who are compelled to live a miserable life after being abandoned by their parents," said DSP Poudel.
