7 People Get Jail Term for Trafficking Women to Gulf Countries from Kerala

Seven people, including three women, were given rigorous imprisonment by a CBI court in Kerala on Feb. 24 in a case of human trafficking. The convicted persons women from different parts of the state  to brothels located in Gulf countries from 2009 to 2012.

CBI court judge S Santhosh Kumar noted that these victims were considered as “slaves” in the United Arab Emirates, on the basis of the evidence that was provided by them, PTI reported.

The court handed four of the accused 10 years rigorous imprisonment and fines ranging from Rs 2.54 lakh to Rs 1.54 lakh. The other accused were awarded seven years rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 1.02 lakh each.

The accused KV Suresh, 52, Lissy Sojan, 47, Sethulal, 51, and AP Maneesh, 36, were awarded 10 years rigorous imprisonment.  Suresh, Sethulal and Maneesh were fined a sum of Rs 2.54 lakh while Sojan was slapped with a fine of Rs 2.04 lakh.

The other three accused — Anilkumar V, 45, Bindu PV, 31, and Santha, 46, were given seven years prison term and fine of Rs 1.02 lakh each, the Deccan Chronicle reported.

The court acquitted six other accused in the case, who helped these traffickers. While one of the accused is untraceable, two of them turned approvers.

“From the evidence of the victims, it is seen that they were treated as slaves in the UAE by the accused. It is unfortunate and shocking to see that some of the accused in the case are ladies,” the judgment stated.

The case emerged when a woman based in Thiruvananthapuram was sent to Muscat in 2012 with a promise that she will be given a domestic help’s job with a salary of Rs 20,000-25,000 per month.

She was sent to Muscat on a passport that was forged. The victim was later taken to the United Arab Emirates, and Suresh, Lissy Sojan and Sethulal forced her into flesh trade.

She, however, fled from the country and reached Mumbai, where authorities arrested her for having an illegal passport. The victim was then handed over to the Kerala Police, to whom she narrated her story following which a case was filed at Kochi.

The case was later taken over by the CBI, following which five more cases of human trafficking were filed.

India’s Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh had said in the parliament last year that Indian missions take immediate steps to help women workers in distress and to redress their grievances with the foreign employers, labor department and local government authorities. The government has put in place various measures to safeguard and regulate emigration of Indian women workers holding Emigration Check Required (ECR) passports for overseas employment in ECR countries, including Gulf nations, he had  said.