HC upholds man's sentence for raping, trafficking minor girl

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has upheld the conviction and 10-year sentence awarded to a 28-year-old man for raping and forcing a minor girl into prostitution, observing that the accused ruined the victim's life.

Justice Sadhana Jadhav dismissed the appeal filed by the convict, Arabali Ashraf Mulla, a resident of West Bengal, challenging a trial court's order of March 2015 convicting and sentencing him to 10 years in jail.

Mulla was held guilty under various Indian Penal Code sections, including rape, and provisions of the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act.

According to the prosecution, in November 2011, Mulla lured the victim, who was then 15, out of her home in West Bengal and later married her.

He then brought her to Dongri area in Mumbai and later took her to a couple's house where she was forced into prostitution.

A few days later, the victim managed to call her brother and mother, who then lodged a police complaint.

The victim was subsequently rescued from the couple's house and Mulla was arrested.

Justice Jadhav in her order passed earlier this month noted that the prosecution proved its case against the convict beyond reasonable doubt.

"It is a pitiful case of a vulnerable girl who was forced into human trafficking by the appellant. This is a fit case where no leniency can be shown to the appellant as he has ruined the life of a minor girl," she said in her order.