‘Several gaps in prosecution story’: Why Delhi HC acquitted Sonu Punjaban, set aside 24-year sentence in trafficking case

NEW DELHI: Delhi High Court on Tuesday set aside a 24-year jail term awarded to Geeta Arora, alias Sonu Punjaban, for allegedly trafficking a 12-year-old girl, and acquitted her of all charges.Justice Chandrasekharan Sudha also granted similar relief to co-accused Sandeep Bedwal, who was sentenced to 20 years in jail in the case.The HC flagged how the testimony of the victim suffered from “material contradictions, improvements and inconsistencies” and her conduct cast a "serious shadow" on her reliability, even as the prosecution solely relied on her evidence.Justice Sudha highlighted "several gaps in the prosecution story" and noted that, in the absence of any independent corroboration, the conviction can’t be sustained solely on the basis of the victim's testimony."In these circumstances, it can only be held that the materials on record are insufficient to find A1 and A2 guilty of the offences charged against them. Therefore, the conclusion can only be that the trial court went wrong in relying on such unsatisfactory evidence to find the guilt of the accused," it observed.According to the prosecution, the victim, who was about 12 years old, was kidnapped in 2009. It was alleged that co-accused Bedwal enticed her under the pretext of marriage, raped her and then sold her to several persons who forced her into prostitution and sexually exploited her. During the course of such trafficking, the victim was ultimately sold to Sonu Punjaban, who used her for prostitution before further selling her to other persons, it was alleged by the prosecution.HC, however, pointed out that the police probe suffered from serious deficiencies, as the persons allegedly involved in the chain of trafficking were neither properly identified nor apprehended, nor could the prosecution establish any "definite or consistent timeline" of when the victim was in Punjaban's custody.