Supreme Court cancels bail to 13 accused in Varanasi child trafficking case-OxBig News Network

Taking a serious view of inter-state child trafficking rackets, the Supreme Court on Tuesday cancelled the bail granted to 13 accused in three cases lodged at Varanasi, saying the society’s cry for justice can’t be trivialised.

“The cry of the collective (society) for justice, its desire for peace and harmony and its necessity for security cannot be allowed to be trivialised. The life of an individual living in a society governed by the rule of law has to be regulated and such regulations, which are the source in law, subserve the social balance and function as a significant instrument for protection of human rights and security of the collective,” a bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan said.

Pulling up the Uttar Pradesh Government, the bench said, “We are thoroughly disappointed with the manner in which the state handled the situation. Why did the state not do anything for all this period of time? Why did the state not deem fit to challenge the orders of bail passed by the high court? The state unfortunately has exhibited no seriousness worth the name.”

It also disapproved of the manner in which the high court dealt with the case. “Considering the serious nature of the crime and the modus operandi adopted by the accused persons we are of the view that the high court should not have exercised its discretion in favour of the accused persons. We are sorry to say but the high court dealt with all the bail applications in a very callous manner. The outcome of this callous approach on the part of the high court has ultimately paved the way for many accused persons to abscond and thereby put the trial in jeopardy.

“These accused persons are a big threat to the society wherever they are in the country. They have exhibited a tendency of committing a particular nature of crime, namely, child trafficking. The least that was expected of the high court while granting bail to all the accused persons was to impose a condition on each of them to mark their presence once in a week at the concerned police station so that the police can keep a check over the movements of all the accused persons,” it said.

The top court directed all high courts to call for necessary information on the status of pending trials relating to child trafficking and subsequently issue a circular for the completion of trial within six months and submit a report to the court.

It also directed the state governments to ensure that the trafficked children were admitted in schools in accordance with the provisions of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 and continued support for their education.

“An overall analysis of trafficking patterns across states reiterates the prevalence of trafficking in large numbers with the number of cases sharply rising with time. What is of concern is the rapid spread of the problem with previously unknown factors getting embedded in the web of traffickers,” it noted.

The top court directed the accused persons to surrender and asked the trial court to conduct the trial preferably on a day-to-day basis and complete the trial within six months in the three FIRs registered against them in Varanasi.

The bench directed the state to appoint three special public prosecutors for conducting trials and provide police protection to the victims and their families. It gave two months to trace the absconding accused persons at the earliest.

At the end of the trial, the court concerned should pass appropriate orders on compensation to the victims under the provisions of the BNSS, including under the Uttar Pradesh Rani Laxmi Bai Mahila Evam Bal Samman Kosh managed by Land Welfare Committee, it said.