On July 22, Dwarka District Court in Delhi sentenced Geeta Arora a.k.a. Sonu Punjaban, a high profile sex trafficker, to 24 years in jail.
The 35-year-old Delhi resident was booked under Protection of Children from Sex Offences Act for human sex trafficking which came to life after a 12-year-old was kidnapped and forced into child prostitution in 2009. The police had registered a case against her for the same in 2014 by the victim, which was later transferred to Crime Branch. The victim helped in the arrest of Arora but ran away multiple times fearing her fate, ultimately, she was retraced and counselled.
It is said that she brutalised her victims in inhumane ways including putting chilli powder in their private parts and giving them drugs so they’ll be easier to solicit.
According to Pritam Singh, the judge appointed in the case, she “not only purchased a victim for prostitution but she also brutalised her to make her surrender to her demands. She forcibly administered drugs to the victim so that she could not resist a customer… The modesty of a woman is next to her soul. How a woman can outrage and brutalise the modesty of another woman, who is a minor, in such a horrific way? The shameful deeds of Geeta Arora alias Sonu Punjaban deprive her of any leniency from the courts. A person, irrespective of gender, who does such horrific and terrible acts, has no right to live in a civilised society and for her, the best place to live is within the four boundaries of the jail. The convict crossed all the limits to be called a woman and deserves the severest punishment provided under the law.”
Sonu Punjaban was known to have fancy a lavish lifestyle and sought to illegal means to support this desire.
The court also accused Sandeep Bedwal who was accused of kidnapping and subsequently raping the 2009 victim. Bedwal was sentenced to 20 years in jail. Both of them have also been fined ₹65,000. Meanwhile, the victim has been given a compensation of ₹7 lakh for her ordeal.
This is not the first time Punjaban has had a run-in with the police, she was also arrested in 2007, 2008 and 2011 on similar accounts. She is also said to have connections with the underworld.
Arora was previously admitted to a hospital for overdosing on headache pills in what appeared to a suicide attempt.
Featured Image: Times Of India