New Delhi:A local court in Delhi has awarded 24 years of rigorous imprisonment to Sonu Punjaban, who has been one of Delhi’s biggest sex racket operators with a deep nexus with gangsters in north India. Sonu Punjaban, alias Geeta Arora, was given the punishment by the Dwarka District Court. Her accomplice, Sandeep Bedwal, has also been sent to 20-year imprisonment. The first impression of the incorrigible criminal would be that of a suave English-speaking woman. However, the next moment, she could blast a person with her desi dialect.
On September 11, 2009, Punjaban’s confidante, Sandeep Bedwal, on her instructions, abducted a minor girl and then turned her into a drug addict. Later, she was sold and re-sold to multiple people, including Punjaban, for the purpose of prostitution. In 2014, she managed to escape from the custody of her captor and sought police help. A FIR was lodged but, the case went cold soon as the minor went missing.
In 2017, a team led by DCP (crime) Bhisham Singh took over the case and began searching for the minor, who had been missing for the last two years. Finally, the police managed to trace her with the help of one of her friends, who gave her contact number. On being approached by the police she refused to pursue the case. However, after being counselled she gave her before a magistrate, which led to Punjaban and her accomplice Bedwal’s arrest in 2017 and their sentencing on July 22, 2020.
Recently, Sonu Punjaban tried to commit suicide in Delhi’s Tihar Jail by consuming medicines. She was taken to a hospital where she recovered following treatment. Announcing the punishment, the court said Sonu Punjaban “crossed all limits to be called a woman and deserves severest punishment”.
