Six women charged with human trafficking

GEORGE TOWN: Nine people, including six women,were charged in the sessions court yesterday with three counts of human trafficking.

K. Kumaran, 40, P. Pumugam, 33, E. Eswaran, 22, D. Dhanam, 36, (said to be Kumaran’s wife), S.S. Rajesvari, 35, B. Kavitah, 34, T. Sarmilah, 24, T. Kausalya, 22, and Kumaran’s mother-in-law S. Leelavathy, 48, pleaded not guilty to sexual exploitation of three local women since 2017.

The charges were read to them in Tamil by a court interpreter before magistrate Jamaliah Abd Manap.

All the accused were jointly charged together with a suspect, who is still at large, with committing the offences at 2A, Jalan Southbay 7, Residence @ Southbay, Batu Maung between June 2017 and January this year.

They were charged under Section 12 of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007, read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code, which provides for a jail term of up to 15 years and a fine.

Earlier, deputy public prosecutor Farah Aimy Zainul Anwar did not offer the accused bail, considering they were accused of being involved in a human trafficking syndicate.

Lawyer Dr Shamsher Singh Thind, representing all the accused, had asked for bail, saying that his clients had fully cooperated with the police while Kumaran, the owner of a scrap metal shop, had to support eight of the accused and 11 children, three of whom were still very young.

The court, however, did not allow bail for all the accused and set May 18 for case management.

Bernama