Girls Treated As Commodity Even In 21st Century, Mother 'Selling' Her 1-Yr-Old Highly Objectionable To Morality And Human Rights: Bombay HC
Objectionable to morality and human rights that a one-year-old girl has been sold by her mother, the Bombay High Court observed while granting bail to a woman accused of buying another woman’s daughter.Justice S. M. Modak observed – “We are in the 21st Century, still there are incidents wherein the girls are treated as commodity and they have been used as a medium for financial benefits....
Objectionable to morality and human rights that a one-year-old girl has been sold by her mother, the Bombay High Court observed while granting bail to a woman accused of buying another woman’s daughter.
Justice S. M. Modak observed –
“We are in the 21st Century, still there are incidents wherein the girls are treated as commodity and they have been used as a medium for financial benefits. It is highly objectionable to the principles of morality and human rights that a girl of one year is being sold by the natural mother.
The court said that the mother sold the child as she was in need of money. “I am at great pains when the word ‘sale’ is used. But the other side of the coin is that her own mother has done this act and the hard reality of the life is that she is in need of money as her husband is behind bar.”
The woman was booked under Section 370 (buying any person as a slave) of the IPC, Section 81 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 and Section 39 of the Maharashtra Money-Lending (Regulation) Act, 2014.
The court said that the accused persons committed a “sin on humanity” by taking the custody of the complainant’s daughter.
According to the complainant, her husband was in jail, and she was in need of money. Hence, she obtained a loan from the applicant and her husband against the custody of her daughter. She repaid the loan, but the applicant refused to give her daughter back.
The court also noted that the accused couple did not have any money lending license.
The applicant was arrested, and the investigation is complete. The trial Judge denied her bail twice while her husband and another co-accused were released on bail.
The court noted that now the complainant’s daughter is with her parents. Further, applicant also has two minor children whose welfare has to be considered.
The court said that it is not known when the trial will start and finish and there is no need to detain the applicant till the conclusion of the trial.
Case no. – Criminal Bail Application No. 364 of 2023
Case Title – Ashwini Sanjay Babar v. State of Maharashtra
Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 101