Explainer: Severe legal ramifications for child abuse and trafficking

In a recent ruling, a Bombay sessions court decided a case in which a 35-year-old housewife was found guilty of driving her young daughter into prostitution and supporting herself off the money earned from it.
Context

The prosecution’s case, made by the victim/daughter, was that the victim’s mother forced her into prostitution and that the mother was subsisting on the victim’s earnings.

With the help of a friend, the victim informed the police about the situation, which resulted in a raid on one of the accused’s residences. Sections 370(A), 506(II), 323 of the IPC, sections 4 and 5 of the PITA Act, and sections 7, 8, and 17 of the POCSO Act were among the accusations.
Examination

The mother used to send clients and ask the girl whether she had to become a prostitute, the court determined based on the evidence presented. The accused mother’s exploitation of the victim and her reliance on her earnings were shown by the court’s findings of adequate evidence. The victim’s mother had enlisted her for sexual exploitation as she was pressuring her into prostitution. The court decided that one definition of trafficking is the recruitment of an individual for the purpose of exploitation.

The IPC’s Section 370 defines the offense of trafficking. Five categories have been established for the crime, which include all facets of committing such offenses. According to Section 370 of the Indian Penal Code, trafficking occurs when someone, with the intent to exploit, a) recruits, b) transports, c) harbours, d) transfers, or e) receives a person or persons by utilizing any of the following methods: a) threatening, b) using force or other forms of coercion, c) abduction, d) engaging in fraud or deception, e) abusing power, f) using inducement, such as offering or receiving of payments or benefits, in order to obtain the consent of any person having control over the person recruited, transported, harboured, transferred, or received.
According to Section 370A of the Indian Penal Code, child trafficking carries a severe sentence of at least five years and up to seven years in prison. When it comes to adults, the same crime involves a fine and a minimum term of three years, with the possibility of five years. Depending on the age of the victim, different sentences have been assigned to those found guilty of the crime of exploitation of a trafficked person.

Comprehensive measures to combat the threat of human trafficking, including the trafficking of minors for sexual or physical exploitation, slavery, servitude, or the forcible removal of organs, are outlined in Sections 370 and 370A of the Indian Penal Code. The Justice J.S. Verma Committee, which was established in the wake of the December 2012 Nirbhaya rape tragedy, made recommendations that were used to create the new Section 370 and 370A IPC, replacing the previous Section 370 of the IPC. The Justice J.S. Verma Committee recommended the addition of a new clause that would create a new crime after taking notice of the threat posed by the trafficking of women, girls, and/or children for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

The mother was found guilty of violating section 370(A)(1) of the IPC, and the court sentenced her to seven (7) years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 1,000/- (Rupees One Thousand Only); if she failed to comply, she would have been sentenced to fifteen (15) days of simple imprisonment.
The Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act, 1956, section 4, also imposed liability on the accused mother by the court.

Anybody who intentionally subsists on the proceeds of another person’s prostitution is subject to penalties under Section 4 of the ITP Act. It further stipulates that the penalty for receiving such profits in connection with a child or minor’s prostitution would be a minimum of seven years and a maximum of 10 years in jail.
According to the Section, in the event that an adult over the age of eighteen is proven to be either: (a) living with, or regularly in the company of, a prostitute; (b) exercising control, direction, or influence over a prostitute’s movements in a way that indicates that the individual is encouraging, abetting, or compelling her prostitution; or (c) acting as a tout or pimp on behalf of a prostitute, it will be assumed, unless the contrary is proven.

The most important piece of law to stop trafficking for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation is the ITP Act. The sexual exploitation or abuse of people for profit is what the Act refers to as “prostitution.” The Act makes it very evident that the goal of the law is to prevent or outlaw commercialized vice, including the trafficking of women and girls for the purpose of prostitution as a formal means of subsistence. Under the ITP Act, there are penalties for those who run a brothel (Section 3), live off the proceeds of prostitution (Section 4), procure, induce, or take someone for the purpose of prostitution (Section 5), detain someone in a location where prostitution is practised (Section 6), engage in prostitution in or near a public place (Section 7), seduce or solicit for the purpose of prostitution (Section 8) and seduce someone who is under custody (Section 9).

In this instance, the accused mother was found guilty of an offence covered by Section 4 of the ITP Act. She was sentenced to nine (9) years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 2,000/- (Rupees Two Thousand Only); if she did not pay the fine, she would have to serve a one-month sentence of simple imprisonment.
In this instance, the court also noted that it seemed that the accusations were ambiguous with regard to section 506 (criminal intimidation) and section 323 (voluntarily inflicting pain). The victim did not report any specific instances in which she was mistreated or attacked. Therefore, the allegation made under sections 506(ii) and 323 of the IPC was dismissed for lack of proof.

The condemned lady, who was apprehended in 2014, has already served ten years in prison; thus, her sentence will be offset by the time she has already served.
Indictments brought under the 2012 Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act: This particular legislation was created to protect kids from exploitation and sexual assault. It gives detailed explanations of the many types of sexual abuse, such as penetrating and non-penetrating assault and sexual harassment.
In this instance, the prosecution’s position was that the defendant encouraged the offense that was illegal under the POCSO Act. Nonetheless, the court decided that there is no way to prove an abetment allegation against anybody else until the primary accused is proven guilty.

No tolerance in these situations: It is important to remember that the court emphasized in its ruling that, as the victim’s mother, the accused should have taken the appropriate safety precautions to shield the girl, but instead she not only lived off of the victim’s earnings but also assaulted her when the victim refused to submit. As a result, the accused received no mercy from the court.
In a another instance, the Bombay High Court has found a man guilty and sentenced him to 10 years of hard labour for luring a fourteen-year-old girl to a red-light district in Nashik with the aim of forcing her into prostitution. According to Justice PK Chavan, there is an increasing number of situations where adolescents are coerced into prostitution, and the guilty party is not deserving of pity.

In another instance, the Allahabad High Court refused bail to a man who forced a juvenile victim into prostitution and then raped them, highlighting the fact that daughters are the pride and glory of the family in a civilized culture.
It is important to remember that although the elements of the offenses under Section 370 and the ITP Act are the same, the penalty for crimes against children and minors is more severe. The courts evaluate a number of factors while determining the appropriate sentence, including the victim’s age, their relationship to the accused, the seriousness of the crimes, etc.
In summary

The new ruling underscores the necessity for strict measures to prevent child exploitation and human trafficking, as well as the legal ramifications of these horrible acts. The judicial system, which includes the POCSO Act, Indian Penal Code, and Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act, offers a thorough method to deal with the many aspects of these crimes. With the disturbing increase in child trafficking cases for sexual exploitation, these legislative protections are essential to holding offenders responsible and providing victims with justice.