Nagpur: The Special Judge for Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, R P Pande, on Monday awarded 20 years rigorous imprisonment (RI) to 48- year-old Munnibai Maksud Pathan after the charges of pushing a minor girl into prostitution were proved against her in the court.
According to the prosecution, Munnibai Pathan, a resident of Lane No 2, Taj Nagar, Ajni, Nagpur, was running a brothel at her house. She dragged a minor girl into flesh trade. Acting on a tip off, officers of Social Security Branch (SSB) of Nagpur Police sent a decoy customer to Munnibai’s house on July 14, 2021. Munnibai took money from him and provided the minor girl to him in a room. After the decoy customer confirmed that she was running a sex racket, he signalled the officers attached to the SSB who formed a team and raided Munnibai’s house.
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Friday 17 Jan. 2025
The SSB team rescued the minor girl and took Munnibai into custody. On the complaint of Assistant Police Inspector Rekha Sankpal, a case under Sections 370-A, 372, 376(2)(j) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), read with Sections 3,4,5,7 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, and Sections 4,8,17 of the POCSO Act, was registered against Munnibai at Ajni Police Station.
Police arrested Munnibai on July 15, 2021. The then Police Inspector (Ajni) Sarthak Nehete investigated the case and filed a chargesheet against Munnibai. As the charges were substantiated against Munnibai, the court sentenced her to 20 years RI with a fine of Rs 7000 for the offence punishable under Section 376(3) of the IPC. The court also awarded 20 years RI with a fine of Rs 7000 to her for the offence under Section 4 of the POCSO Act. For the offences under Sections 3, 4, 5 and 7 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, the court sentenced her to seven years RI with a total fine of Rs14,000. All the substantive sentences will run concurrently.
Additional Public Prosecutor Aasawari Paldodkar represented the State. Adv R P Dhale was the defence counsel.
