A man has approached the Delhi High Court seeking production of his wife, who has allegedly been kept in illegal confinement and is chained along with several other women by some persons.
A Vacation Bench of Justices Sanjeev Narula and Neena Bansal Krishna, which was informed by the police that the woman is in Oman, issued notice to the State asking it to file a status report.
The man, represented through advocate Lokesh Ahlawat, said his wife got a phone call in April, offering her a job at a hotel in Paharganj here and the caller tried to convince him and his wife to accept the offer. Initially, the couple ignored it thinking it was a fake call but when they got repeated calls from the same persons, they accepted the proposal, the petition said.
The plea added that the couple belonged to a poor family and the caller told them that initially the woman would be provided with a job, and the husband would be given a job later. On May 29, the woman came down to Delhi from Bihar and informed her husband that she was staying in a hotel in Paharganj. However, thereafter, her number became unreachable.
On June 8, the man got a call from his wife that she was kept chained in a big hall along with several other women and they were being treated like animals and given meals only once a day, the plea submitted, adding that he feared that she was being confined in a brothel.
The plea said it seemed that the woman was a victim of kidnapping, illegal confinement, prostitution and human trafficking.
The man said he has lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police Commissioner on June 10. However, no action has been taken.
The counsel for the State, on instructions from a police inspector, told the court that as per the inquiry conducted, the petitioner’s wife is in Oman but is jobless.
The court listed the matter for further hearing on July 7.
