Thane: Two persons, including a woman, have been awarded ten years’ rigorous imprisonment by a Thane court in Maharashtra for trafficking minor girls and pushing them into flesh trade. District Judge P P Jadhav last Saturday pronounced the punishment to Shivnath Pal Yadav (52), an autorickshaw driver, and Rajani Thakur Karnawat (37), who worked as a sweeper, and also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on them.
The prosecution told the court that based on a complaint by an NGO, the CBI officials raided a hotel in Thane city on April 25, 2007 and rescued three minor girls, aged between 12 and 15 years, from there. The raiding party also arrested the two accused, both belonging to Mumbai, from there. They were booked under IPC Sections 366 (kidnapping or inducing woman to compel her for marriage), 366A (procuration of minor girl), 372 (selling minor for purposes of prostitution) and 120B (criminal conspiracy), and the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act.
-Agencies
