Court convicts two persons for human trafficking

COLVA: Additional sessions judge Pooja Kavlekar on Monday convicted two persons, Suraj Sharma alias Saramodh and Santosh Sonawane, for offences under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act 1956.
Both the accused had been apprehended by the crime branch in a raid.
The case of the prosecution is Sharma along with Sonawane, who was the manager of a massage parlour at Colva, carried out prostitution activities on the premises which had been taken on leave and licence basis.
In its chargesheet, the crime branch stated that Sharma had not obtained permission from the Cansaulim health department or the Colva panchayat to run the massage parlour and that it was operating in violation of the rules of the Health Act.
Sharma has been convicted under Section 370(1) of the IPC and under Sections 3, 4, 5 and 7 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act. Sonawane has been convicted under Section 5 of the act.
The accused will now be heard on point of sentence.