Hyderabad: India marks World Day Against Trafficking in Persons on Monday with the possibility of a new legislation coming into force this year to tackle the crime. The Lok Sabha passed the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018 on July 18. The Bill provides for the setting up a National Anti-Trafficking Bureau to investigate trafficking cases a trial for the cases to end within a year.
There is still a long process before it finally becomes law, but activists are hopeful that it will come through this year. Ms Sunitha Krishnan, co-founder of Prajwala, an NGO that rescues sex-trafficked victims, who was the spirit behind the legislation, said, “Having a great legislation is not good enough, until and unless it is implemented in its true spirit. It took 14 years to get this legislation, it came about after Supreme Court directions and not because the government wanted it.”
She said any law could be misused, if it was not implemented properly. All the stakeholders involved, the law enforcers, the judiciary and the NGOs should be accountable for the same. “It is only one of the first step, and there is a long way to end this menace,” he said. A study by the United Nations in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that 21 million people are victims of forced labour globally. Human trafficking is a crime that exploits women, children and men for numerous purposes including forced labour and sex.
Approximately 28 per cent of victims of trafficking globally are children, according to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund and the Inter-Agency Coordination Group against Trafficking. An example of the horrors of trafficking is the story of Seema (name changed), who became a mother at 17. She returned to her home in Jharkhand with her two-month-old baby last week, five years after she was sold to a family in Gurgaon where she was raped by a co-domestic worker.
Activists say even a small hint from the public could play a very big role in busting human trafficking rackets, appealing to people to stay alert and report if they see anything unusual. Trafficking victims are often in plain sight but overlooked by all those who see them. Seema’s sexual assault last year was preceded by years of servitude in the corporate suburb of Gurgaon with 19-hour workdays and barely enough food.
