Case against accused human trafficker thrown out

His arrest was part of last year’s hoopla surrounding Belize’s efforts to please Uncle Sam by pursuing cases of “human trafficking.” But today Jitendra Chawla, better known as Jack Charles, is a free man. The proprietor of Xtra House had all six counts of Unlawfully Withholding Travel Documents dismissed when Magistrate Margaret Gabb upheld a no case submission by attorney Dean Barrow. The prosecution never did manage to get its case out of the starting gate. When the so call victims–six young Indian immigrants–identified their employer as one Jack Charles, Barrow pointed out that the accused was named Jitendra Chawla. When the prosecution failed to satisfactorily deal with the name issue, the charges were tossed.