Police, Sub Divisional Magistrate ought to know more about Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act

PANJIM: This is one major goof-up that ought to embarrass the protectors of law. The police wrongfully book three women, allegedly working for Anthony Britto, for procuring girls into commercial sex trade and then producing them before the Sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), Margao instead of a special magistrate. And the SDM remands the perpetrators to the State Protective Home, where rescued trafficked victims are rehabilitated.

Interestingly, this goof-up is happening despite innumerable training sessions conducted by NGOs working with trafficked victims to acquaint the protectors of the law with The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 (ITPA).



Check out how the case was goofed up:

ERROR 1

COMMITTED BY: The Margao Police
WHAT HAPPENED: The Margao police got information that three of Anthony’s women were coming from Mumbai. So they posed as customers at the station and arrested the women - Laxmi, Kajal and Arti-- from the railway station.
WHERE THEY WENT WRONG:
* They registered an offence under Section 4 and 5 of ITPA and produced the girls before the SDM, Margao. Incidentally, those who are arrested under these sections have to be produced before judicial magistrate of the first class and not SDM.

ERROR 2

COMMITTED BY: SDM, Margao
WHAT HAPPENED: The SDM remanded the three women by an order dated September 6, 2006 to Protective Home, Merces. Here the women were kept for nearly one and half months.
WHERE HE WENT WRONG:
* The case booked under section 4 and 5 doesn’t fall within the jurisdiction of SDM. Yet the SDM remanded the three women to Protective Home, though they are perpetrators of the crime (under section 4 and 5) and not victims.
* A SDM can remand the girl to Protective Home if they are brought under section 15 and 16 ITPA. Then the girls can be referred to Protective Home under section 17 of ITPA.

THE END RESULT

In an order (case No SDM/SAL/Prot-Home/2006/8104) passed by the court of SDM Dipak Desai, Margao (a copy of which is in possession with GT), the SDM released the women stating, “The SDPO (Margao) failed to give any details. Therefore, I have no option but to release them as there is no point of keeping them in Protective Home without proper justification”.
The order further said that SDPO has failed to submit his report and failed to submit the details of the case or offence registered against the women. “As per my knowledge all the above ladies are major in age and they were not arrested or taken into custody from the brothel, however they were arrested by the Police at the Railway station,” the order added.