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Though trafficking of women and girls for commercial sexual exploitation is a more heinous crime than peddling drugs, the law makers have missed opportunities to prescribe stringent punishment for human trafficking, which attracts a lenient maximum three year jail term as against minimum 10 years for drug peddlers, says Odisha High Court.
“Trafficking in persons” is not defined in Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act that has been noted by the court. According to the protocol, ‘Trafficking in persons’ shall means the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of fraud, abduction, of the abuse of the power or of the position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of the payments or benefits to achieve the consent of the person having control over the other person for the purpose of the exploitation .
Then court observed that-
“Even if the accused had a limited role in selling the victims or in the prostitution business, no leniency can be shown to him as much as he played a major role in the racket to push the helpless and innocent girls into the prostitution. If any leniency is shown for committing such heinous crimes, like forcing a girl into the prostitution, it would amount to an affront to the statues which govern the field and more importantly the constitution of India.
The Court, however, granted bail to the accused taking note of the fact that it had already given bail to co-accused. While disposing of the bail plea the court further added that: The instant case, in essence, demonstrates a conflict between collective morality of the society and markedly skewed legislations which mismatches the culpability of the participants in question (i.e. service provider, facilitator) and the recipient of the services. Though it involves clandestine and unlawful trafficking of girls but the law makers have missed the opportunity to prescribe a stringent punishment regime, even though the present offence is far more heinous than drug trafficking. There seems to be an all-pervasive puritan, moral, anti-prostitution posture of the Government, but in practice, there is a yawning gap between the law and its enforcement which results in abysmally low conviction rates.
As this is increasing day by day now it’s high time to take a strict action against it and make stringent law which should be followed by everyone.
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