Bombay High Court Perturbed As Girls Trafficked From Bangladesh Under Fake Citizenship Docs Accuse Vishrambaug Police Of Sexual Exploitation

A division bench of Justices AS Gadkari and SG Dige said they weren’t interested in just one instance of raid but the syndicate that continues to traffick girls inducting them as Indian citizens.

“What about those people who facilitated this? The police has not investigated who brought the victim girls from Bangladesh to India and made them settle in Maharashtra as Indian citizens. If you aren’t interested, we will transfer the matter to the CBI...”

The bench was seized with a petition filed by an anti-trafficking NGO, Freedom Firm, in October 2022 regarding the lax investigation and involvement of police officers from Vishrambaug Police station in a trafficking racket busted in 2022.

After the High Court took cognizance of the matter, the Superintendent of Police (SP) ordered the Addl SP, IPS Anchal Dallal, to conduct an enquiry. A report submitted by her on January 29, 2023 indicted officers of the police station including the original investigating officer PI Kalappa Pujari and head constable Swapnil Koli.

Her enquiry found that Koli had sexually and monetarily exploited one of the trafficked victims. After this a separate crime was registered. Koli was booked under Sections 376(2)(n), 376(c)(b) & 384 of the IPC and Sections 4, 5(A)(I) & 6 of the POCSO, arrested in February and released on bail in May 2023.

On Thursday, the Court perused the affidavit of the Sub-Divisional Police Officer, Sangli Division, who took over the investigation from Pujari but the bench was dissatisfied with the progress.

The Court asked the prosecution if anyone was investigated or arrested from the UIDAI regarding the forged Aadhaar cards as the victims clearly mentioned their identity documents were manufactured.

According to the affidavit the police has only sought details from the UIDAI about the Aadhaar cards which were seized last year.

Public Prosecutor Aruna Pai insisted there was progress in the investigation, adding that the police was interested in pursuing the matter.

“The most vital aspect of the crime hasn’t been investigated,” the court observed about the cross -border investigation. “Infiltration of border itself is a serious concern which is not being looked at seriously by those investigating the crime. We direct the Superintendent of Police Sangli to file his personal affidavit. So two weeks.”

We want the SP to read every single page otherwise we will transfer the matter to the CBI, the bench warned. The court noted that despite a cross border treaty with Bangladesh there was no progress in the investigation on that aspect.

“Otherwise make a statement that your police officers are also interested parties. That your police is involved to force these victims into prostitution. Just see the allegations,” the court said referring to a statement of one of the victims.

Two victims’ statements weren’t initially included by the Vishrambaug police in their charge sheet on the grounds that the victims were tutored. It was only after the enquiry report reconfirmed that the girls were in fact exploited and they identified one of their perpetrators through photographs, Koli was arrested.

However, Advocate Wesley Menezes appearing along with Advocates Steven Anthony and Waqar Pathan for the NGO, submitted a fresh affidavit by Freedom Firm on Thursday.

He submitted that while the accused who was running the brothel – Sathi Shaikh alias Rony Akhwar – was arrested, the owner of the premises Ramesh Madrasi was merely cited as a witness in all the charge sheets so far. Moreover, none of the investigating officers have tried to shut down the brothel under section 18 of the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act.

The NGO’s affidavit points out that the IO hasn’t even been able to get the full names of wanted accused Kalu and Rupa. An analysis of Call Detail Records to and from the accused pimp are imperative. Moreover, the initial IO hadn’t even included the forged documents in the first charge sheet.

The police have further not moved for the victim girls to receive compensation under the Manodhairya Victim Compensation Scheme, it states.

Story of a Trafficked Woman

Reena (name changed) said she hailed from a poor agricultural family in Bangladesh. Soon after her mother passed away from cancer she was married off while still in Standard 9. Reena said she was physically and mentally harassed by her in-laws for dowry, adding, that after she mothered a boy, her husband threw her out of the house and kept the child.

Subsequently, her husband remarried and she landed in India through her sister’s relative who suggested she work there. Her father paid Rs. 40,000 for her passport. Since the person in India was a distant relative, her father agreed to send her with an unknown man sent by that relative. She crossed the border illegally.

The distant relative’s relative turned out to be accused Sathi Shaikh who was running the brothel in Sangli. When she refused to work, she was threatened to be sold to someone else and brutally beaten when she sought help from one of her clients. She claimed that two policemen from Vishrambaug police station came to the brothel and accepted Rs. 5 lakh from Sathi. One of the cops would repeatedly visit and sexually exploit her, as per the statement.

Then after fifteen days the police again came and took Rs 2 lakh from Sathi, she said. Then on February 3, 2022 a raid was conducted through Freedom Firm organization and Vishrambaug police station, and Reena along with two women were rescued from the immoral business and kept at an institution at Ishwar Nagar for security reasons for eight days.

The victim said she was threatened by Sathi Shaikh even after the first raid on February 3, 2022.