Supreme Court: Taking note of the fact that in this age also, a class of women is trapped as victims of circumstances, unfounded social sanctions, handicaps and coercive forms in the flesh trade, optimised as prostitutes, the bench of MY Eqbal and Shiva Kirti Singh, JJ urged the citizens to prevent exploitation of women. The Court further added that the victims of the trap are the poor, illiterate and ignorant sections of the society and are the target group in the flesh trade; rich communities exploit them and harvest at their misery and ignominy in an organised gangsterism, in particular, with police nexus.
In a case where the petitioner had filed a writ petition for the enforcement of her fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14 and 21of the Constitution of India, it was noticed that there was inordinate delay in the investigation of the case as 2 years had passed since the filing of the FIR but neither statements of the petitioner or her witnesses had been recorded nor her medical examination under Section 164A of the Criminal Procedure Code had been done by the Uttar Pradesh Police despite repeated notices and reminders sent to the authorities.
Considering the fact that the petitioner was abducted, repeatedly assaulted and raped by her own father and his accomplices for not accepting their demand to enter the flesh trade in which her family is actively involved and also that some serious allegations were made against the police officers as well, the Court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to investigate the case independently. Rashmi Behl v. State of Uttar Pradesh, 2015 SCC OnLine SC 130, decided on 17.02.2015
