New Delhi, January 29, 2009: Not satisfied with the local police's investigation into the cases of alleged trafficking of maids by placement agencies, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday transferred the probe to the Crime Branch.

A Bench of Chief Justice A.P. Shah and Justice Sanjeev Khanna also expressed displeasure over the manner in which four judicial magistrates recorded the statement of about 35 children rescued by NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan recently from various placement agencies here.

In the statements recorded before the police and the Crime Against Women's cell, some of the girls had complained of sexual exploitation but they retracted while the Magistrate was recording the statement. There was a clear indication that the accompanying cops had tutored them.

Noting that the magistrates too had recorded statements in a “mechanical way”, the bench was of the view that they ought to have gone extra mile to get the bottom of the truth.

The Bench made the Delhi Commission of Women a party in the NGO's PIL on the issue and asked the Crime Branch to assign the case to a woman officer.

In the status report filed before the court, the police said it has included charges of abduction and kidnapping in the FIR, which was earlier registered at Saraswati Vihar Police station under provisions of criminal breach of trust.

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