Allahabad HC to hear PIL against prostitution in Meerut on April 30

ALLAHABAD: Hearing a PIL seeking eradication of prostitution and human trafficking in Meerut, the Allahabad high court on Wednesday granted time to the state counsel to file reply in the matter.
Hearing a PIL filed by one Sunil Choudhari, an advocate and social worker based in Allahabad, a division bench comprising Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Justice Rajendra Kumar fixed April 30 as the next date of hearing.
On the petitioner’s submission that he was being threatened repeatedly by miscreants and his life and liberty were in danger due to the PIL, the court directed the district magistrate of Allahabad to look into the complaint and take immediate appropriate action.
As per an earlier direction of the court, senior Meerut officials, including district magistrate Anil Dhingra, superintendent of police (crime) DP Ashok and chief medical officer Raj Kumar, were present before the court.
Earlier, at one stage the state counsel after receiving necessary information had stated before the court that the Meerut authorities had taken steps to eradicate the menace of sex workers.
At another stage, the court after hearing the petitioner had held that since serious issue of human trafficking and prostitution were involved in the matter, the presence of Meerut district administration authorities as well as the chief medical officer was necessary.
The chief medical officer in his report dated June 12, 2018, had admitted to the presence of sex workers in the district and claimed that the district administration had failed to take steps for prohibiting the same.