Aizawl: A fast-track court in north Mizoram’s Kolasib district on Thursday sentenced a 42-year-old woman from Kawnpui town to 12 years’ rigorous imprisonment for forcing her minor daughter into prostitution. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 15,000.Judge R Vanlalena convicted the woman under Sections 96 and 98 of the BNS, 2023, read with Section 77 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. The court sentenced her to five years’ imprisonment each under Sections 96 and 98 of the BNS and another two years for forcibly making the minor consume liquor under Section 77 of the JJ Act.The judge ordered the sentences to run consecutively, requiring the convict to serve 12 years in prison. She will have to undergo an additional six months’ imprisonment if she fails to pay the fine, the court stated.Meanwhile, a co-accused in the case, Indra Bahadur Bandhari Chhetri, died during the trial on February 3, 2025.According to the prosecution, the victim’s grandmother lodged an FIR at Kawnpui police station on August 5, 2024, alleging that the girl’s mother had forced her into prostitution between January 2023 and January 2024.Investigators alleged that the woman offered her daughter to truck drivers and labourers, who were engaged at the Bairabi-Sairang railway project, in exchange for Rs 500 or liquor per person. The alleged offences occurred several times in the New Khamrang and Kutbul areas.
