A city court has pulled up Delhi Police for ‘shielding’ owners of brothels running in GB Road in the Capital and directed the Police Commissioner to ensure action against those involved in human trafficking and prostitution racket.
The court’s direction came after a woman was acquitted of human trafficking and abetting rape. “A bare perusal of the chargesheet of the present and all other cases of similar nature at the Kamla Market Police Station clearly shows the obvious inaction (against brothels) on the part of the investigation agency (in order) to shield the real culprits, who may, in fact, be running a racket of human trafficking and prostitution in the area, within their knowledge,” Additional Sessions Judge Kaveri Baweja said.
“The Commissioner of Police shall ensure that needful is done in this regard so that offence of human trafficking and prostitution can be curbed by roping in the perpetrators of these crimes. It is, hence, expected that future chargesheets would reflect proper compliance of statutory provisions in this regard against the guilty ones,” the judge said, while acquitting Pushpa, a resident of GB Road, of the charges of kidnapping and confining girls, abetting rape and various provisions of the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act as the victim was not traceable and other prosecution witnesses failed to support the case.
The case was lodged in July 2011 on the complaint of a girl, a native of Andhra Pradesh, alleging that after the death of her parents, her sister sent her to the house of a relative (Pushpa), who had brought her to Delhi in 2006 to get her a domestic help’s job.
The court said prosecution had completely failed to prove that the victim was brought to Delhi by Pushpa from Andhra Pradesh or that she was wrongfully confined at the brothel where she was forced into prostitution.
There was also no evidence to hold that Pushpa used to take away the earnings so procured from prostitution by the victim, the court said. Pulling up the police, the court said it was beyond comprehension as to why the agency chose to remain silent with regard to ownership of the brothel, even though as per their chargesheet, there was evidence in the form of statement of the victim that a brothel was being run at Kotha No. 56 of GB Road.
“The probe agency, for reasons best known to them, apparently made no efforts whatsoever to bring before the court any evidence either in the form of documents from Municipal records etc, or otherwise, to establish as to who is the owner of the building where the brothel is being run. Certainly, the probe agency cannot be said to be oblivious to the fact that being the owner, landlord, besides being tenant, the lessee or occupier of a brothel is itself an offence as per the provisions of Section 3 of the ITP Act,” the court observed.