Wednesday, January 28
New Delhi: Slamming the police for not registering a proper FIR in a case of alleged trafficking of maids by the placement agencies, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday transferred the investigation into the matter to the Crime Branch.

Impleading Delhi Commission of Women as a party in the PIL, a division bench of chief justice A P Shah and justice Sanjeev Khanna asked the police to assign the case, related to harassment of young girls and boys, to a woman officer.

Expressing their displeasure over the manner the judicial magistrates have recorded the statement of about 35 children, who were rescued by Bachpan Bachao Andolan, an NGO, recently from various placement agencies here.

"The statement of the children were recorded by four different Metropolitan Magistrates in a mechanical way," observed.

Filing a status report before the bench, the police said it has included the charges of abduction and kidnapping in the FIR which was earlier registered at Saraswati Vihar Police station under provisions of criminal breach of trust against the placement agencies for alleged non-payment of their salaries.

The bench in the last hearing had come down heavily on the police for not incorporating in the FIR various sections of IPC and Juvenile Justices Act.

It had stopped short of summoning the commissioner and given him a week's time to file the status report.

Karnal Singh, joint commissioner, Northern Range, was present in the court in connection with case in which the court had given a direction to the top cop to look into the case more seriously.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by Bachpan Bachao Andolan alleging that placement agencies were responsible for illegal trafficking of girls and boys under the pretext of employment as domestic help.

The petitioner NGO sought a direction to the state government for compulsory registration of all such agencies.

Appearing for the NGO, senior lawyers H S Phoolka and Kavita Tiwari submitted before the bench that the girls were sometimes forced into prostitution and boys were forced into illegal activities.

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