E-Paper
SC cancels bail of woman accused in minor girls trafficking case, pulls up UP govt
The Supreme Court on Friday cancelled the bail granted to a woman accused of forcing minor girls into a prostitution racket in Uttar Pradesh
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday cancelled the bail granted to a woman accused of forcing minor girls into a prostitution racket in Uttar Pradesh and pulled up the state government for not challenging the order in a crime of this nature, observing that granting any further time would put the lives of vulnerable girls at risk.
Setting aside the Allahabad High Court’s May 19, 2025 order granting her bail, the court directed the accused, Tulsi, to surrender within a week.
The bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and K Vinod Chandran, hearing a petition filed by non-profit organisation Guria Swayam Sevi Sansthan, said, “We are surprised to note that the state government has not come forward for cancellation of bail in a matter of this nature.”
The petitioner organisation, represented by senior advocate Aparna Bhat, told the court that the High Court failed to consider the serious and grave facts of the case, in which the accused was the key conspirator who used to force minor girls into prostitution on false pretexts and inducements. The High Court relied on the bail granted to another co-accused in the same case and the larger mandate of preventing overcrowding in jails.
Bhat told the court that the organisation she represents filed a complaint in 2005 with the Child Welfare Committee, Varanasi, which led to the rescue of minor girls trafficked from different parts of the country. The organisation received information that the girls were enslaved and forced into prostitution in brothels in the Shivdaspur red-light area of Varanasi. Based on the tip-off, police rescued seven girls. One of the girls, in her statement, told the police about the role played by Tulsi as the main trafficker running the prostitution racket.
Police filed a chargesheet against Tulsi and two others under various provisions of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code.
The petition said, “The accused Tulsi has a chequered history of indulging into the same offence as and when she is out on bail. She is part of a sophisticated and organised minor girls prostitution racket which involved the kidnapping and selling of multiple minor children across Uttar Pradesh for prostitution and are made to succumb to penetrative sexual assault by various unknown customers.”
The organisation further alleged that courts should not show leniency in such cases, as the maximum punishment under Section 9 of the ITP Act (seduction of a person in custody) is life imprisonment. “When punishment envisaged in the event of conviction for the charged sections is a minimum of 10 years, which can extend up to life imprisonment, respondent No. 2 (Tulsi) is not entitled to bail,” it added.
Tulsi’s lawyer sought two weeks’ time to surrender, but the bench remarked, “If we grant two weeks more, several minor girls will be in danger. She should contemplate.”
