Bombay High Court sentences man to 10 years in jail for immoral trafficking; emphasizes on curbing the social evil

The Bombay High Court recently emphasized on the need to curb the social evil of immoral trafficking while sentencing a man to ten years of rigorous imprisonment for kidnapping and attempting to sell a 14-year-old girl for prostitution [State of Maharashtra v. Vijay Dive]..Justice Prithviraj K Chavan observed that there had been a rise in cases under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act (ITPA) and that the accused deserved no leniency in terms of the punishment imposed on him.“ITPA is a stringent legislation in order to curb the menace of human trafficking, especially, when a child or minor is induced or carried for the purpose of prostitution. The accused herein had indeed committed the aforesaid offences and, therefore, he does not deserve sympathy. In order to curb such social evil, some deterrence is required and, therefore, having considered the entire evidence and the facts on record, following sentence would meet the ends of justice," the Court opined..The accused, Vijay Dive, had earlier been acquitted by a sessions court in Nashik for the offences under Sections 363 and 366A (kidnapping a procuring a minor girl) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 5 of the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act. The allegations against him were that he enticed a 14-year-old minor living in his neighborhood to accompany him and attempted to sell her at Thakare Galli (a red light area) in Nashik..The sessions court order was challenged by the Maharashtra government before the High Court. The prosecution relied upon the testimony of a brothel manager from the area whom Dive had approached for trafficking the minor.Dive argued that the minor had insisted on accompanying him despite Dive’s reluctance. The Court rejected these arguments, noting that as the victim was a 14-year-old minor, the alleged voluntariness in the act of accompanying Dive was insignificant. The act amounted to kidnapping, the Court concluded.The Court further noted from the evidence that Dive frequented the red light area of Nashik and had brought many women to that area for trafficking in the past. This led the Court to infer that Dive was not an innocent person..The High Court set aside the trial court order after noting that it had ignored an important aspect as to why the accused had taken the victim to the red light area where brothels were situated.“The view taken by the trial court is an impossible view in the given set of facts and circumstances. Having re-appreciated and reviewed the entire evidence on record, I am constrained to take a view that the decision of the trial court will have to be reversed by interdicting to meet the ends of justice. There is every likelihood of the respondent being a pimp. However, there is absolutely no scope of any doubt creeping in," the High Court said..Accordingly, the judge convicted Dive and sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment of 10 years with a fine of ₹50,000..[Read order]