Ahmedabad: Woman booked in begging racket one year after getting caught

It took more than a year for Ahmedabad police to lodge a case against a 35-year-old woman running a begging racket. She was caught red-handed by a traffic police sub-inspector while forcing four minor kids to beg at different parts of the city a year ago. The case was finally filed after the State Human Rights Commission issued a notice to the department enquiring about the status of the case.

As per police, on August 3, 2017, at around 11 pm, JM Chawada, the in-charge mahila PSI of the traffic department and her team nabbed the woman identified as Kanchan Marwadi near Roopali Cinema with four kids on the basis of suspicion.

It was revealed later that Marwadi used to force the kids to beg in different parts of the city and take away the money from them. The four kids were rescued by the cops and were handed over to Childline officers. Investigation revealed, when the incident took place, Chawada and PSO Mohan Hari of Karanj police station had not registered any complaint in the matter and no action was taken against the accused either.

Recently, the State Human Rights Commission issued a notice to the traffic department seeking the status report of the case. A senior police officer was then asked to prepare the same.

The report was submitted to the traffic DCP and city police commissioner, and it mentioned the negligence on part of police; consequently, a departmental inquiry was conducted.

FM Nayab, Inspector of Karanj Police Station, said, "It was revealed that the traffic PSI had submitted a report to the Karanj PSO on the case, but it was returned to her after some details and information were found missing.

Later, when the PSI sent the report to the PSO again, the report got misplaced and eventually no action was taken."

After one year and two months, on Tuesday, a complaint was lodged against the accused at the Karanj Police Station by Mehboobbhai Ibrahim, the head constable of Khadia Police Station; further investigation is now on. Cops are still on the lookout for the woman.