A Delhi court on Wednesday has acquitted a man accused of trafficking a girl from Jharkhand in 2014 and forcing her into unlawful labor, citing insufficient evidence from the prosecution.
The case involved Shyam Kumar, who faced charges under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Juvenile Justice Act. The prosecution alleged that Kumar trafficked the girl from a village in Jharkhand’s Khunti district and coerced her into working as a domestic help, withholding her wages.
The girl was rescued from a railway station in August 2014, and it was claimed that she had been threatened, beaten, and kept in harmful conditions.
However, the court, led by Additional Sessions Judge Raj Kumar, reviewed the evidence, including the testimonies of the girl, her father, and an employer, as well as an employment contract indicating the girl’s age as 19 at the time. The court concluded that the victim was not a minor when the alleged offense occurred.
The court noted that the victim admitted she came to Delhi willingly to earn money and initially worked as a domestic help of her own accord. She also stated that while she was later forced to work in Hisar and Mumbai, she did not suffer any ill-treatment or beatings there and eventually ran away from Mumbai.
Judge Raj Kumar stated that the prosecution failed to present evidence proving that the accused trafficked or exploited the victim through threats, coercion, or fraud. Allegations of threatening the victim after withholding her payments were not part of the initial complaint and were later added, further weakening the prosecution’s case.
The court also highlighted the lack of independent witnesses to confirm that the girl was rescued from a railway station by NGO members in August 2014. As a result, the judge acquitted Shyam Kumar, stating that the prosecution had not met the burden of proof required to convict him.
