Court Acquits Woman in Human Trafficking Case Due to Lack of Evidence

Court Ruling in Human Trafficking Case

In a significant ruling, a court in Thane, Maharashtra, has acquitted a 57-year-old woman accused of human trafficking and forcing women into prostitution, citing insufficient evidence. The decision was made by Additional Sessions Judge A.S. Bhagwat on June 21, with the order copy received on Saturday.

The prosecution had claimed that officers from the Thane police's anti-human trafficking unit conducted a raid on February 10, 2015, at an apartment in Savarkar Nagar, Thane, based on intelligence reports. They allegedly arrested the accused, Madhu Arjun Yadav, after sending in a decoy customer.

According to the prosecution, three women were rescued from the premises, who were reportedly pushed into sex work. The case against the accused was filed under Section 370 of the Indian Penal Code (human trafficking) and the provisions of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act.

However, the court noted that the prosecution failed to present the decoy customer or the women who were supposedly rescued. It was reported that the victimized women could not be located, and the decoy customer did not appear in court despite multiple summons. The court highlighted that the case against the accused had been pending for over a decade, leading to a lack of evidence against her.