Three years ago, all Rikma BK knew was, things in her village of Bastipur in Siraha were far from perfect. Little did she know that her fight against traffickers and usurper landlords would one day land her in hospital, and her daughter in the hands of kidnappers.

The 35-year-old describes herself as an unschooled housewife who in 2003 participated in a 90-day course on women’s and children’s rights advocacy. The more Rikma learnt at the Women’s Rehabilitation Centre (WOREC), the angrier she became.

She was soon going door-to-door in her village, telling people about the false promises middlemen were making to them—their children would be employed as domestic help in Punjab, India and they’d receive handsome sums of money in the future. Rikma knew the children would disappear to a shady fate, and the parents wouldn’t get a paisa.

By January this year, Rikma had collected enough evidence to press for the arrest of Sitey Bista, who has traded over 300 children in the last five years.

Bista, who has close political and gangster connections, was arrested, released by the police, re-arrested at the insistence of families of missing children—and released again.

The price of that—Bista's men beat up Rikma so badly in public last month that she had to be rushed to Kathmandu for emergency medical treatment. We met Rikma in the capital last week where she is receiving follow-up care. She’s still in pain, but says. “My fight against this will not stop.”

Last month Rikma’s 15-year-old daughter Diwas was abducted and forcefully married to the kidnapper because Rikma has been waging a campaign against Bastipur’s landlords, who have also seized plots leased out to tenant farmers without warning or compensation. Rikma’s supporters in neighbouring villages rallied to find the girl, but they were later convinced by her daughter not to pursue. Sitey went into hiding, but no one has been punished yet.

“There’s a price to pay for the good fight,” Rikma says, “but you should never give up. And eventually you will win.” 

Naresh Newar