16-year-old girl kidnapped, trafficked to Bangladesh rescued after timely intervention by the Calcutta High Court
The 16-year-old girl was kidnapped, trafficked to Bangladesh and rescued after timely intervention by the Calcutta High Court.
Srisanya Bandhopadhyay, counsel for the State, submitted that this is the first time he has seen exercise of jurisdiction under Article 226 to recover a trafficked victim from a foreign country.
Court wordings
The single judge bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha recorded its appreciation and 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.
The court stated that Human Trafficking inflicts a particularly devastating blowto the life and liberty of victims, violating the rights enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution.The Writ Jurisdiction of the Constitutional Courts, under Article 32 and Article 226 forms the lifeblood 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 acknowledgement of this power and responsibility was further solidified by the inclusion of these provisions under the Basic Structure of the Constitution.
The court said that it had attempted to employ all the faculties available to it, to rescue the victim, a little girl, from her traffickers, and to reunite her with her parents. Its efforts were complemented by a host of individuals and institutions, and expressed its immense gratitude to all those involved in the rescue efforts.
The court quoted the words of two famous people that “It always seems impossible until its done.”, and “Perseverance is not a long race: it is many short races one after the other.”
Case title: Iti Pandit Vs. The Union of India and Ors.
Citation: WPA 19332 of 2021
