Kolkata, July 26 -- The Calcutta High Court has upheld the conviction of four men in a case relating to the abduction and trafficking of a 17-year-old girl, holding that a survivor's testimony may become more detailed over time as she gradually recovers from psychological trauma and that such improvements should not automatically be treated as contradictions.
A Division Bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha and Justice Rai Chattopadhyay observed that courts must assess the evidence of trafficking survivors in the context of the entire case instead of rejecting an otherwise reliable prosecution case because of minor omissions or later additions.
According to the prosecution, the girl from South 24 Parganas left home in March 2013 to visit her brother before accompanying one of the accused, whom she knew, to Diamond Harbour. She later became unconscious after consuming refreshments allegedly provided by the accused, regained consciousness in Delhi and was taken to Jaipur, where she was sold to a brothel, before being shifted to a red-light area in Gandhidham, Gujarat. The victim was rescued after police traced a phone call received by her father. A Mograhat police team travelled to Gujarat, recovered her from the red-light area and arrested two accused. Another accused escaped during the operation and was arrested later.
Rejecting the defence claim that the girl had travelled voluntarily, the High Court held that she was a minor and had been taken away from the lawful custody of her guardians without their consent. It found that the accused had used deceitful means to gain control over her before trafficking her for commercial sexual exploitation.
The court accepted the victim's testimony as credible, observing that survivors may disclose additional details only after recovering from embarrassment and psychological trauma. While upholding the convictions of all four accused, it reduced one Nazim Sk's overall sentence to 15 years, treating the phone call that led to the victim's rescue as a mitigating circumstance. The trial court has been directed to act in accordance with the judgment.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.