The Thane court recently acquitted 4 persons, including the manager of a lodge, who were accused of being involved in a sex racket, saying the prosecution failed to prove the charges.
The order by Additional Sessions Judge AN Sirsikar was passed on April 19, a copy of which was made available on Tuesday.
According to the prosecution, the Mira Road police in February 2008 raided a lodge in their jurisdiction and found the girls that were being pushed into the flesh trade. The police arrested some of the accused on the spot and the rest later.
Therefore, when pointing to holes in the prosecution case, the court stated the investigation officer claimed that 2 of the 3 “victims” were minors but there was no supporting medical evidence to substantiate it.
The court stated that “I think, the victims who were alleged to be minors could have been the best witnesses. But unfortunately, the prosecution couldn’t secure their presence.”
The court said that there was no document to show that one of the accused worked as the manager of the lodge and another was the cashier. It stated that there was no documentary evidence to show who owned the lodge.
Therefore, it also said that no documents were produced to establish that procedures were followed under the provisions of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act. The court acquitting the four stated that the “uncorroborated” testimonies of prosecution witnesses aren’t sufficient to establish the guilt of the accused.
