Kathmandu, Mar 12: Nepal's Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Saturday expressed gratitude to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government for evacuating four Nepalese nationals stranded in Ukraine amidst the military offensive by Russia.
The evacuation of the Nepalese students was done as part of India's 'Operation Ganga' that was launched to bring back the Indians stuck in Ukraine after Russia launched a military attack on February 24.
"Four Nepali nationals have just arrived in Nepal from Ukraine via India. Thank you Prime Minister @narendramodi and the Government of India for the assistance in repatriating Nepali nationals through the #OperationGanga," Deuba said in a tweet.
Last week, the Indian government evacuated two Nepalese citizens from Ukraine.
Earlier, the Nepalese government reached out to the Indian government for the evacuation of its stranded nationals.
India has brought back around 18,000 Indians under 'Operation Ganga' which was launched on February 26, two days after Russia launched its military offensive on Ukraine.
Meanwhile, The Kathmandu Post newspaper reported that so far, six Nepalis have been evacuated by India.
Including four Nepalis brought from Ukraine on Saturday, a total of six Nepali nationals have been rescued by the Indian government, the report quoted the Nepali embassy in New Delhi as saying.
According to Nepal's Ambassador to Germany, Ram Kaji Khadka who is also accredited to look after Ukraine, evacuation of Nepali nationals from Ukraine is almost over.
Khadka said a total 580 Nepali nationals have come out from Ukraine since Russia attacked Ukraine.
Russian forces launched military operations in Ukraine on February 24, three days after Moscow recognised Ukraine's breakaway regions - Donetsk and Luhansk - as independent entities.
Four Nepali nationals have just arrived in Nepal from Ukraine via India.
— Sher Bahadur Deuba (@SherBDeuba) March 12, 2022
Thank you Prime Minister @narendramodi and the Government of India for the assistance in repatriating Nepali nationals through the #OperationGanga.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Singapore (PTI): An Indian-origin Malaysian man was sentenced in Singapore to 12 years' jail and 12 strokes of the cane for raping a domestic worker outside a train station after tricking her into thinking that he was a police officer.
Sharveen Chetty, 48, pleaded guilty on February 4 to one charge of raping the 35-year-old Indonesian woman in the bushes outside Exit F of a subway, Little India Mass Rapid Transit station, at about 8pm on July 11, 2022.
The victim was with her friends at the time, but Chetty lured her away before he sexually assaulted her, according to a report by The Straits Times on Thursday.
Two other charges – a second rape charge and a charge of impersonating a police officer – were taken into consideration during sentencing on Wednesday.
The witnesses who testified on the first day of the trial included a doctor from Women’s and Children’s Hospital who examined the victim a day after the rapes, and forensic scientists from the Health Sciences Authority.
Chetty had initially contested the charges in a High Court trial that began on February 3. But he changed his mind and pleaded guilty on what would have been the second day of the trial, according to the daily report.
In sentencing, Justice Dedar Singh Gill considered it aggravating that Chetty had targeted the victim because she was a foreigner who might be unfamiliar with the local authorities.
The judge rejected the defence's arguments that the rape was not premeditated.
The judge, however, noted that Chetty had pleaded guilty before the victim and key prosecution witnesses testified, thus sparing her and her friends from going through cross-examination.
The prosecution had sought a sentence of between 11 and 13 years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane, noting Chetty’s extensive efforts to disguise himself, and his predatory act of leading the victim away from the rest of the group.
Chetty admitted that he became sexually attracted to the victim.
