Ahmedabad: A special Pocso court on Friday sentenced two persons to 14 years’ rigorous imprisonment for trafficking and sexually exploiting two minor girls who were brought from Bangladesh and forced into prostitution.The convicts were identified as Sagar Mandal from West Bengal and Mohammed Faruq Mandal from Bangladesh. The court convicted both accused under the BNS and the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act for living on prostitution earnings.The court also sentenced Sagar to 20 years in jail and imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 under Pocso Act for penetrative sexual assault on one of the minors. Faruq was cleared of this charge, while both accused were acquitted of the charge that they coerced the victims into having sex after making false promises.According to the prosecution, the offences took place between May and Aug 2024. A city crime branch team raided an apartment in Vastral and found two victims, aged about 15 and 17 at the time, along with their mother and Sagar’s wife.The prosecution relied on the victims’ statements, medical records, ossification tests, panchnamas, and testimonies of police and panch witnesses.After the trial, additional sessions judge Nita Vesvalia stated, “It clearly appears that the victims were minors and transported from Bangladesh crossing the border illegally into India at Ahmedabad, and kept at the house of accused no.1 (Sagar) by accused no.2 (Faruq). Thereafter, the offence of penetrative sexual assault on victim no. 1 and indulging in sex work to both the victims for their personal economic benefit have been occurred. Therefore, it is clear that the children have been transported for sexual exploitation (sic).”The court ordered compensation of Rs 4 lakh for one victim, who is still a minor, and Rs 75,000 for the other.
