As per the Indian constitution it is a grievous offence to traffic human beings. The IPC has separate provisions to punish the culprit for trafficking. Buying and selling of minor girls is strictly prohibited especially for the purpose of prostitution, provisions such as sec.366 (A) mentions about penalty for abducting female child for sexual exploitation. In this section if one procures a minor girl with the intention of forcing her for illegitimate intercourse with any other person, that person shall be punishable with imprisonment that can extend to 10 years and he shall also be liable to pay fine. In section 366 (B) punishment for offenders who import girls from foreign countries has been specified.
The culprit who imports any girl who has not attained the age of 21 yrs old from any country other than India with the intention of sexually exploiting her shall be punishable with imprisonment that may extend up to ten years and might have to compensate with fines. As this is a cognizable offence, it is non bailable and non compoundable.
It was held in the case of Mohandas suryavanshi v. State of MP, 1999 Cr LH 3451 (MP) that the consent of a minor who has been a victim of the prostitution and on whose behalf the state prosecuted the suspect does not make the accused innocent. The fact that the girl in this case was taken to separate places, far away from her local guardian to be used for fornication makes the accused guilty for abduction and rape of a minor girl for several days. Even if instead of the original name the victim’s pet name has been used to file the FIR, the circumstances still make the accused guilty for the offence he committed.
Section 363 (A) of IPC penalises people who use minor girls to beg. Such a person shall be apprehended for ten years and shall pay compensations. If that person disfigures or causes permanent injury to any part of the minor he/she shall be punished with life imprisonment along with a fine as compensation. Sec.367 provides punishment for a person who abducts another with the intention of either disposing them or making them a subject of slavery, this includes causing grievous hurt and slaving them for the purpose of unnatural lust of any person. This section penalises the offenders with imprisonment up to 10 years along with fine. Sec.370 of IPC deals with offences for exploitation, here exploitation includes physical or sexual and the practice of slavery or anything resembling that, this term exploitation also includes removal of organs, forcefully subjecting a person to someone more powerful than them.
The consent of the victim is considered immaterial for the offence of trafficking. Thus one is guilty if he traffics a person or more than a person as well as minors. The accused incorporates even a person convicted for trafficking a minor more than once as well as subsumes a public servant or maybe even a police officer who has been involved in the trafficking of the minor. The accused shall be punished for not less than 7 years if he has trafficked a person and this can extend up to 10 years along with fine, if the person trafficked is a minor, if he is trafficking more than one person than he shall be punished with imprisonment for not less than 10 years that may extend to life imprisonment with fine. If the accused has trafficked more than one minor, he shall be imprisoned for not less than fourteen years that may extend into life imprisonment and any person convicted for committing the offence of trafficking a minor more then once shall be imprisoned for life along with fines and same is the punishment for any public servant or police officers involved in trafficking.
As per sec.370A a person who knowingly engages or sexually exploits a trafficked person in any manner shall be imprisoned for not less than 3 years that may extend up to five years and be liable to pay a fine. The person who knowingly exploits a trafficked child sexually shall be imprisoned for not less than five years that may extend up to seven years of confinement with the culpability to pay compensation.
Sec.372 punishes a person with imprisonment for ten years along with a liability to pay fines for the offences of selling any minor girl for the purpose of prostitution. It would even include people hiring a person to employ as a prostitute for unlawful coitus. Also section373 punishes any person who buys or hires a minor for the purpose of prostitution with imprisonment of 10 years along with fine. The person buying or selling or managing a brothel as well as the brothel owners are liable under this section. The accused can also be convicted under section 376 of IPC that states the punishment for the offence of rape.
Aishwarya Says:
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