By IANS

Kathmandu : The Nepal government has stepped in to save a nine-year-old girl who was gambled away by her father in a village in the farwest.

Nine-year-old Nauti Mahara, who was to "marry" a 30-year-old gambler in Kafallekhi village in Doti district, has been rescued by the district administration and local NGOs after the tale of her plight hit the headlines.

Nepal's official media Monday said the administration has decided to take the child under state custody and provide for her education.

The father and the groom are yet to be arrested though women's rights groups are demanding they be brought to justice.

Earlier this month, the media had reported the sensational story of how the girl's father, an inveterate gambler called Dil Bahadur Mahara, had lost Nepali Rs.30,000 (approx $470) while gambling. And, unable to pay the money, had promised the 30-year-old unnamed winner his nine-year-old daughter's hand in marriage instead.

As women's organisations in the district took up the case, a police team was sent to investigate the incident in the village that lacks motorable roads and can be reached only after walking for four hours from the district headquarters.

By the time they reached the scene, the girl had already been "married" to the man.

Though women form 51 percent of Nepal's population and were active during the pro-democracy movement two years ago, they continue to be regarded as second-class citizens in feudal Nepal, where a son is valued much more.

Poor families often do not send daughters to school and regard them as burdens who have to be paid a heavy dowry in order to get married.

Though women's groups have been fighting to get laws that discriminate against women annulled - like old laws that prevented a married woman from inheriting parental property or required her husband's consent in order for her to acquire a passport - mindsets are yet to change, especially in the remote villages where literacy level is appallingly low.

Mahara's story is a chilling replica of the award-winning book "Sold" published in 2006.

Though purportedly fiction, it is based on the real life story of a 13-year-old Nepali girl who was sold by her father to a brothel in India to pay off his gambling debts.

Hundreds of young children are sold by their families every year either to Indian brothels or to circuses and factories where they are treated as slaves.