Siblings get 7 years in jail for human trafficking

Terming human trafficking of a girl child as “abominable”, a city court has sent a brother-sister duo to jail for seven years for their involvement in the trafficking of a four-year-old girl.

Terming human trafficking of a girl child as “abominable”, a city court has sent a brother-sister duo to jail for seven years for their involvement in the trafficking of a four-year-old girl.

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Additional sessions judge Gurdeep Singh while sentencing Veena and Ashok to rigorous imprisonment said, “The human trafficking of girl child is the most abominable of crimes. The traffickers for their small monetary gains not only sell the human body but also force the child into prostitution, thereby making such person dead in body as well as in soul.” The court imposed a fine of R10,000 each on the duo.

On July 18, 2009, the victim went missing from Sultanpuri market where she had gone with her aunt. Through an elaborate network, the girl was sold by some neighbours to Shyamlal for R2,500 who sold her to the convicts for R20,000 to bring her up to become a prostitute. The child was found in Sodawas village in Rajasthan. Two other girls were also found there in another case related to human trafficking.

Noting that the child went missing from Delhi and was found in Rajasthan, the court said, “The child could not have gone on her own to the said place (Rajasthan) and, therefore, this fact was within the special knowledge of the accused persons as to how the child has come to their possession.”

The court rejected the defence’s contention that Veena and Ashok were falsely implicated in the case, holding that the duo did not inform the police.

Against the backdrop of the dwindling sex ratio in the country, the court said the girl child needed to be protected and the inadequacy of law and law enforcing machinery needed to be addressed immediately.