Kochi: A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court has awarded hard labor and imprisonment of several years to seven people for trafficking Malayali women to Dubai for flesh trade.
They lured hapless women by offering jobs as domestic help. The offenders were slapped with charges including sexual abuse, trafficking, cheating, conspiracy and kidnap.
The accused will get between 19 and 53 years in jail, depending on the charges on each one. However, since the time to be spent in jail can run simultaneously, the actual number of years will be from seven to 10.
The court handed first accused K V Suresh, 52, of Valappad in Thrissur and third accused Sethulal, aka Basheer, 52, of Kodungallur 10 years each in prison and fines of Rs 2.5 lakh each. Second accused Lisie Sojan, 47, of Karumatra and seventh accused A P Manish, 37, of Kodungallur were given 10 years each, besides a fine of Rs 2.04 lakh.
It's seven-year jail terms for fourth accused V. Anil Kumar, 49, of Vattapara, with a fine of Rs 1.02 lakh. Fifth accused P V Bindu, 31, of Kattapana and Maniyar Shanta, 46, of Punalur also get the same punishment.
Other accused in the case have been acquitted for lack of evidence. They are: K. Sudharman of Thiruvananthapuram, 61, Varghese Raphel of Champakkara, 49, P K Kabir from Chavakkad, 58, Chazhoor Siraj of Thrissur, 48, S. Mustafa, 70, from Kollam, and Thahira from Thrissur.
Two people in the accused list were made approvers by the prosecution. They are T A Rafeeq aka Sunil, 49, of Kodungallur and M. Rameshan, 44, from Malappuram.
The CBI had exempted from the list of accused sub-inspector Raju Mathew, civil police officer Prashant Kumar and their friend Shaji. All three were initially listed as accused in a crime branch police investigation.
"It is shocking that women have been accused in a case in which helpless women have been trafficked to foreign countries to work as sex slaves. This is terribly unfortunate. Reading the statements of victims of the crime, one feels the accused do not deserve any mercy. There will not be any dispute about that," the CBI Special Court said in its order.
The case emerged in July 2012 when a native of Kazhakoottam, who was trafficked under the false name 'Jyoti Mohan,' was caught while returning from Muscat via the Cochin International airport. The case was initiated with the woman as accused, but as investigations found her a victim, she was turned into an approver.
The accused deliberately used false names to 'smuggle' out the victims. The court was convinced that the women became slaves in the hands of the gang and served all their interests, as they could be jailed abroad if caught.
The women used to be taken out from Dubai airport in the trunk of cars. Malayali organizations in the UAE intervened to save many of the victims as the scandal broke. These organizations worked to rescue women who were in the custody of main accused Suresh and Lisie Sojan. Each of the women were offered to 30 customers on an average daily, levying 50 UAE Dirhams.
