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Sartaj Khan vs. State of Uttarakhand

Criminal Appeal · 2022 INSC 337Decided 24 Mar 2022
Criminal Appeal No. 852 of 2018
Uday Umesh Lalit · S. Ravindra Bhat · Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha

Background

A 15-year-old Nepali girl was found near the Indo-Nepal border at Banbasa after being lured from Nepal into India by a man who promised her shopping and a hotel stay, then began molesting her on the way. She was rescued by police, and the accused, Sartaj Khan, was arrested near the spot she identified him. The trial court acquitted him, but the Uttarakhand High Court reversed the acquittal on appeal by the State and convicted him under IPC provisions on kidnapping and trafficking and under the POCSO Act, sentencing him up to 10 years' imprisonment. Khan appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing (among other things) that the offence was committed outside India and needed central government sanction, that the girl travelled voluntarily, and that she was actually an adult.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court rejected all three arguments. It held that since part of the offence occurred on Indian soil (the girl was brought into and molested within India), Section 188 CrPC's sanction requirement for offences committed wholly outside India did not apply. The evidence showed the girl was deceived and lured, not a willing traveller, and medical evidence (radiological and dental tests) firmly established she was under 18, triggering the enhanced minimum ten-year sentence under Section 370(4) IPC. Finding the High Court's reversal of the acquittal sound, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal and upheld the conviction and sentence.

Lesson Learnt

A crime that begins abroad but continues or is completed on Indian soil can be prosecuted in India without needing central government sanction, and courts give strong weight to scientific age-determination evidence when assessing whether a victim was a minor for trafficking offences.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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