A Single Bench of Rajasthan High Court comprising Justice Rajasekhar Mantha expressed gratitude towards the efforts put in by the High Commission of India at Dhaka and High Commission of Bangladesh at Kolkata in helping with the recovery of the victim girl who was trafficked to Bangladesh.
Background:
- The writ petitioner is the mother of a victim girl, who appeared to have been trafficked to Rangpur, Bangladesh.
- The charge sheet had been filed on 21.09.2021 under Sections 363/365/120B/34 of the Indian Penal Code and 14F/14C of the Foreigners Act,1946 against certain persons some of whom have been arrested.
- Earlier the court ordered the Centre to carry out immediate repatriation of the Victim and as a result of effort, the victim girl was rescued and reunited with her parents back in India.
Observation of the Court:
The court was delighted to hear that the victim has been safely recovered and reunited with her parents in India. For this, the Bench expressed gratitude towards the counsels, the High Commission of India at Dhaka, and High Commission of Bangladesh at Kolkata in helping with the recovery of the victim girl.
The court observed that,
"Human Trafficking inflicts a particularly devastating blow to the life and liberty of victims, violating the rights enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution. The Supreme Court in the case of Kharak Singh vs. State of Uttar Pradesh reported in AIR 1963 SC 1295 highlighted this by observing that the term ‘life’ does not mean mere animal existence. The Writ Jurisdiction of the Constitutional Courts, under Article 32 and Article 226 forms the life-blood of the Constitution as it effectuates and enforces the Fundamental Rights of citizens, in the absence of which, the existence of those rights would be in vain. The
acknowledgment of this power and responsibility was further solidified by the inclusion of these provisions under the Basic Structure of the Constitution as per L. Chandra Kumar vs. Union of India reported in 1997 (2) SCR 1186."
It was opined that the Writ Jurisdiction of the High Courts being wider than that of the Supreme Court places on its shoulders added responsibilities under the constitutional scheme. This puts a boundation under Article 226 on the High Court to exercise all the powers vested in it to ensure the exercise of all possible efforts to protect the Fundamental Rights of citizens.
Counsel for the state put forward the fact that is the first time he has seen the exercise of jurisdiction under Article 226 to recover a trafficked victim from a foreign country.
High Court was inclined towards the view that exercise of jurisdiction under Article 226 must be used in every new and ingenious manner to protect and afford the remedies under Article 21.
Bench quoted the words of some famous people and said,
“It always seems impossible until it is done.”, and “Perseverance is not a long race: it is many short races one after the other.”
By these lines, the court was pleased to note that this case territorial and other limitations are easily defeated in the face of an overwhelming determination to find suitable solutions.
Accordingly, the Petition was disposed of.
Case Title: Iti Pandit v. The Union of India and Ors
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