KUALA LUMPUR: A former nurse has claimed trial in the Sessions court here to trafficking an eight-month-old baby girl last year.

Gulab Jan Abdul Jabir, 49, pleaded not guilty before judge Ahmad Zamzani Mohd Zain Thursday.

Dressed in a black skirt and purple blouse, Gulab Jan, who is from Selayang Baru, started crying after the court was adjourned, insisting she was innocent.

She has been accused of of trafficking the baby for means of exploitation at Hospital Taj at Jalan Ipoh, here, on Nov 1, last year.

This amounts to an offence under Section 14 of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act 2007. If convicted, she can be jailed up to 20 years and fined.

Deputy public prosecutor Nor Amalina Ismail proposed bail of RM50,000 as this was a serious offence and a case of public interest.

Defence counsel Gerard Lawrence, however, pleaded for a lower bail, saying that his client did not have such a large sum of money and that she was currently unemployed.

The court granted her bail at RM10,000 with two sureties and ordered her to submit her passport to the court.

The court fixed July 18 for mention of the case.

Edited by Carmeline A.