12 July 2012 Last updated at 10:37 ET

Nepal jails sex trafficker Bajir Singh Tamang for 170 years

Thousands of women are trafficked across South Asia to become sex workers

A district court in Nepal has handed down a record 170-year jail term to a man convicted of trafficking teenage girls to work as prostitutes in India.

Bajir Singh Tamang, 37, was convicted of luring teenagers from rural areas with the promise of jobs in the Middle East only to sell them to brothels.

His own daughter was among the young women he trafficked.

Correspondents say that the trafficking of women for prostitution has long been a problem for Nepal.

Six women under 16, rescued by human rights groups in 2007 and 2009, had pressed charges against Tamang, prosecutor Krishna Jung Shah told the Agence France-Presse news agency.

"He was charged for illegally recruiting the girls, selling them to Indian brothels and also running a prostitution ring," Mr Shah told AFP from Sindhupalchok, the central district where Tamang was convicted.

The sentence is the longest handed down in Nepal's history.