Court acquits brothel manager after victims remain untraceable

A special court has acquitted the manager of a brothel after the prosecution was unable to examine the independent witnesses and a few victims remained untraceable. On April 12, 2014, Amritkaur Jagdeo, a social worker, informed the Social Service Branch of Mumbai police that a prostitution racket was being run in Grant Road. The same day, officers of the Social Service Branch conducted a raid on the brothel and rescued six women.

The next day, the police filed an FIR against Chabinabibi alias Roma Gaina, the brothel manager, and Reshma Gazi, the brothel keeper. During the raid, the police had seized ₹11,350 in cash, Ms. Gaina’s election card, and two notebooks with the names of victims and money received from customers. Ms. Gazi, however, gave them the slip.

Later, the police laid a trap to arrest Ms. Gaina by deploying people to pose as customers. Ms. Gaina was arrested after she demanded ₹1,000 from the customers to use the services of one woman. Ms. Gaina claimed that she paid ₹200 to the victim and the rest before she left to her native place. The police charged Ms. Gaina and Ms. Gazi under Section 370 (trafficking of persons) of the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act.

Special Judge K.D. Shirbhate said that the prosecution was not able to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. Judge Shirbhate said, “As per the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, raids should be conducted by a special police officer not below the rank of an Inspector of Police. And arrests without warrant may be made only by a special police officer. The prosecution has not been able to produce any evidence to prove Chabinabibi was the brothel’s manager.”

One of the victims said in court that no such raid took place and the accused had not been arrested. She and the other victims denied the prosecution’s version of events in court.

The judge said, “Two victims have denied knowing Chabinabibi. There is no evidence to show Chabinabibi forced them into prostitution. The prosecution has not examined any independent witnesses and not prepared the panchnama.”

Ms. Jagdeo told The Hindu, “It becomes difficult to trace victims in such cases. Some of them were from Bangladesh and have already been repatriated. We couldn’t get them to depose during the trial and this led to the acquittal of the accused.”