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* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

Reserved on: 13.11.2025

Date of Decision: 20.11.2025

+ BAIL APPLN. 212/2024

KUZBAYEVA MARAL .....Petitioner

Through: Mr. Rizwan, Mr. Varun Narang, Mr. Manik Dhingra, Mr. Samarth Sharma, Mr. Nihit Singhal, Advs.

versus

THE STATE N.C.T. OF DELHI .....Respondent

Through: Ms. Meenakshi Dahiya, APP for State with Ms. Divya Bakshi, Adv.

Mr. Amit Tiwari, CGSC with Ms. Ayushi Srivastava, GP, Mr. Ayush Tanwar, Mr. Arpan Narwal and Mr. Kushagra Malik, Advs.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AJAY DIGPAUL

J U D G M E N T

%

1. The present petition under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure1 has been filed by the petitioner seeking grant of Regular Bail in FIR No. 148/2022 dated 22.07.2022 for the offences punishable under Sections 370/ 366B/ 419/ 420/ 465/ 466/ 467/ 268/ 471/ 474/ 109/ 120B/ 34/ 174A of the Indian Penal Code, 18602 and Sections 3/4/5 of Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 19563 registered at Police Station Crime Branch (South), New Delhi.

Factual Matrix

2. Briefly stated, the facts emerging from the FIR are that, on the basis of secret information received by the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU), Crime Branch, Delhi, it was revealed that certain foreign women, predominantly from Uzbekistan, were being brought to India via Nepal and compelled to engage in immoral trafficking activities in Delhi.

3. Acting upon such information, a raiding party was constituted under the supervision of Inspector Pramod Kumar. On 22.07.022, upon verification of the information through decoy customer Constable Sohanveer, a raid was conducted at Flat No. B-13, 4th Floor, Pansheel Vihar, Malviya Nagar, New Delhi, where two agents, namely Mohd. Arup and Chande Sahni @ Raju, were apprehended along with ten foreign women. The said accused persons were found to be facilitating and managing prostitution activities at the behest of one Aziza and her husband Ahmed, residents of Sunlight Colony, Delhi, who were allegedly bringing the foreign women to India and forcing them into prostitution after confiscating their passports. Upon search, incriminating articles and cash was recovered. Accordingly, the present FIR was registered.

4. Upon conclusion of the investigation, a chargesheet was filed on 21.09.2022, followed thereafter by supplementary chargesheets pursuant to further investigation.

5. The supplementary chargesheet dated 06.09.2023 reveals that the accused persons, petitioner herein (a Turkmenistan national) and Kilicheva @ Aziza @ Maya (an Uzbekistan national), were engaged in an organized racket of human trafficking and prostitution operating in Delhi, Gurugram, and other parts of India. Both were found overstaying in India on expired visas and in possession of forged Indian identity documents such as Aadhaar, PAN and Voter ID cards, used for opening bank accounts and conducting illegal transactions.

6. Subsequently, the petitioner was apprehended from Gurugram on 19.06.2023, and forged documents, foreign passports and mobile phones used in the commission of the offence were recovered from her possession

7. Thereafter, vide order dated 30.03.2023, the learned Trial Court framed charges against the accused under Sections 120B/370/419/420/174A of the IPC, Sections 3/4 of the ITP Act and Section 14 of the Foreigners Act, 19464.

8. The petitioner thereafter moved an application for regular bail, which was dismissed by the learned Trial Court vide order dated 05.10.2023. The Trial Court held that despite the absence of specific attribution of role in the victims’ statements under Section 164 CrPC, the categorical allegations in their statements under Section 161 CrPC, coupled with the recovery of the victim’s passport at the petitioner’s instance, prima facie implicate her. The Court further observed that the petitioner was in constant touch with the co-accused, had earlier absconded, was residing in India on an expired visa without any plausible explanation, and t