A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court here on Saturday awarded Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) to seven persons, including three women, in connection with the trafficking of Keralite women to Dubai for flesh trade.
Pronouncing the judgement, judge S. Santhosh Kumar found the accused — identified as Suresh K.V., 52, of Valappad; Lissy Sojan, 47 of Thalapilly; Sethulal 51, of Lokamalleswaram; and Maneesh A.P., 36, of Kodungalloor, Thrissur; and Anil Kumar V., 45, Vattapara, Thiruvananthapuram; Bindu P.V., 31, Kattappana, Idukki; and Santha, 46, Punaloor, Kollam, guilty under various Sections of the IPC and the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act.
Among the accused, Suresh K.V. and Sethulal were sentenced to serve RI for 10 years, besides being imposed a fine of ₹2.54 lakh each. Similarly, Lissy Sojan was sentenced to RI of 10 years and a fine of ₹2.04 lakh.
Anil Kumar V., Bindu P.V., and Santha were sentenced seven years of RI and a fine of ₹1.02 lakh each. The remaining convict, Maneesh A.P., was awarded 10 years of RI and ₹1.54 lakh as fine.
“From the evidence given by the victims, it is seen that they were treated as slaves in the UAE by the accused. It is unfortunate and shocking to see that some of the accused in the case are women. On a reading of the deposition of the victims, there may not be any difference of opinion that no leniency can be shown to the accused. However, a lenient view is taken with respect to accused no. 4, 5, and 6, and their sentence is reduced,” observed the court in its judgement.
Meanwhile, the court acquitted six persons, identified as Sudharman K. of Thiruvananthapuram; Varghese Raphel of Ernakulam; Kabeer P.K., Siraj, and Tahira of Thrissur; and S. Musthafa of Kollam, who were accused of assisting the sex racketeers in the Gulf and in Kerala.
T.A. Rafeeque of Kodungalloor, Thrissur, and M. Rameshan of Chelembra, Malappuram, turned approvers in the case. Sheela, another accused in the case, is still absconding.
The case came to light in 2012 with the trafficking of a woman from Kazhakuttam in Thiruvananthapuram to Muscat by offering her a job as housemaid with a salary of ₹20,000-₹25,000 a month. She was sent to Muscat using a forged passport of a woman from Kattappana. After arriving in Muscat, she was shifted to the UAE illegally and forced to live in brothels operated by the main accused Suresh, assisted by Lissy Sojan and Sethulal.
However, the woman managed to escape from the clutches of the accused and reached Mumbai, where she was caught for possessing a fake passport. She was then handed over to the Kerala police and, subsequently, a case was registered with the Nedumbassery police station.
A follow-up investigation by the Crime Branch revealed the involvement of an organised racket. Later, the case was handed over to the CBI, which registered five cases related to human trafficking from Nedumbassery and Thiruvananthapuram airports.
