PANAJI
Gross investigative lapses in a 2018 sex racket case led to the discharge of one of the two accused. The case pertains to a raid in Calangute, during which local police arrested Manjunath Balganoor and Kevinkumar Patel for immoral trafficking and rescued two women, hailing from Mumbai and Gujarat.
In the chargesheet filed subsequently, the police alleged that pimp Balganoor had procured the women for prostitution and was transporting them to Baga End Point to supply them to Patel.
The State argued that there was prima facie evidence to frame charges against the first accused whereas Chief Legal Aid Defence Counsel Narayan Amonkar pointed to victims’ statements indicating they were commercial sex workers, who were rescued in a similar raid in 2017.
Amonkar argued that there was no evidence of force, coercion or control exercised by Balganoor over the victims, and moreover no material showing that he had procured them for prostitution.
“There are no documents to show that Balganoor was living on the earnings of prostitution or that he was exploiting the victim girls by taking advantage. There is no statement of the owner, manager of the hotel where the victims had been staying and even the name of the hotel is not investigated. No decoy customer was sent to know what had transpired between the accused and victims. There is no sketch showing the distance between the scene of offence and the chapel. The chapel was a public place, no statement of any devotee is recorded and therefore citing all these infirmities in the chargesheet,” he said pointing to the flaws in the investigation.
District Judge-3 and Additional Sessions Judge Apurva Nagvenkar acknowledged these investigative lapses observing that no decoy customer was used and no electronic evidence, such as call records or messages was collected to prove any monetary transactions between the accused and the victims.
“The raid was conducted in front of the Chapel, but the details of the Chapel are not specified… There is no sketch showing the distance between the place of offence and the said Chapel, since the law requires that prostitution activity conducted within 200 metres from the religious place is a punishable offence. But there is no material collected by IO to that effect,” she noted.
In her order on Friday, the Judge discharged Balganoor stating that there was insufficient prima facie material to frame charges against him. Patel will face the proceedings, as per the order.
