Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued a notice to Delhi government and police on a plea of notorious human trafficker Geeta Arora alias Sonu Punjaban challenging her conviction in a human trafficking case.
Sonu Punjaban was sentenced to 24-year imprisonment for kidnapping and forcing a 12-year-old girl into prostitution. A Delhi court had in July convicted Sonu Punjaban for kidnapping, human trafficking and prostitution. This is the first case against Arora in which she has been convicted.
She has moved the Delhi High Court challenging the conviction and sentence awarded to her by a trial court.
A single-judge bench of justice Manoj Kumar Ohri on Wednesday asked Delhi Police to file a reply on the plea and listed the matter for further hearing on October 9.
Sonu Punjaban, in her plea filed through advocate RM Tufail and Astha, sought to set aside the trial court judgement convicting her in the case.
A trial court in Delhi`s Dwarka had in July convicted Sonu Punjaban in connection with a kidnapping and human trafficking case and sentenced her to 24 years imprisonment saying that "she has crossed all limits to be called a woman" and "deserves the severest punishment".
Another person, identified as Sandeep Bedwal, has also been convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison for kidnapping and raping the minor girl.
According to prosecution, a 12-year-old girl was kidnapped by Sandeep Bedwal on September 11, 2009. After raping her, she sold her to a woman named Seema who resold her to Sonu Punjaban. The minor girl was forced to sell her body by both Seema and Punjaban.
Sonu Punjaban used her for prostitution and before sending her to customers also administered drugs such as proxyvon and alprex tablets. She also injected drugs to the victim so that the body of the victim became tight and more suitable for prostitution, the police said.
The victim escaped on February 9, 2014 and filed a complaint at Najafgarh police station.
The police is yet to catch all the accused in the case.
Sonu Punjaban was convicted by a special POCSO court under various charges pertaining with kidnapping, etc of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant Sections of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act dealing with prostitution.
