Traffic Alert

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Traffic Alert

Sunday, 22 September 2019 | MUSBA HASHMI

Traffic Alert

A new study has found that only four out of 429 persons named ‘traffickers’ in police files relating to over 100 cases of human trafficking, have been convicted in the past decade. MUSBA HASHMI tells you more

There is an adage — Little thieves are hanged but great ones escape. It holds true to today’s era where the most dangerous criminals are never traced. Or even if they are, it’s mostly too late.

A new study has found that only four out of 429 people named as ‘traffickers’ in police files related to over 100 cases of human trafficking, have been convicted in the past 10 years. This provides enough evidence to understand why human trafficking continues to grow unabated in the country.

The study, carried out by analysing case documents such as chargesheets, FIRs and police general diaries related to 198 human trafficking cases, found that out of 429 named offenders only less than one per cent were convicted with punishments ranging between five and seven years of imprisonment. The study revealed that 68 traffickers have been given bail, and in investigations linked to five traffickers, the case has been continuing for over a decade now.

“The low conviction and high acquittal figures cast doubts in the efficacy of investigations by law-enforcement agencies in human trafficking cases,” says Snigdha Sen, who conducted the analysis by studying legal documents availed from courts and police stations of cases involving over 173 survivours of human trafficking from West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh.

“The findings reaffirm that traffickers enjoy a high degree of impunity because of the lacklustre investigations. The lack of retribution encourages them to carry on with their criminal activity leading to a surge in human trafficking,” Sen adds. She collaborated with several organisations like HELP from Andhra Pradesh, Goranbose Gram Bikash Kendra from West Bengal and Partners for Anti Trafficking (PAT) — a consortium of eight community-based organisations in West Bengal. These organisations have come together to work for the rehabilitation and protection of survivours under the access to justice programme Tafteesh.

That 31 out of the 429 traffickers are repeat offenders accused in multiple cases of human trafficking and all their victims were children and adolescents, shows the level of impunity they enjoy in the absence of proper law enforcement. These 31 have committed 91 (19 per cent) of the total number of crimes.

“Impunity is one of the key reasons why West Bengal is not being able to arrest human trafficking despite several initiatives by the Government, the police and NGOs. Currently, traffickers who are in the business of recruiting girls and young women in this State and selling them in Maharashtra, Delhi, Telangana or Goa, have little accountability. As they grow wealthier, they recruit others to join them in spotting, recruiting and trafficking vulnerable children and adolescents. The reason these investigations are so prolonged and prosecution so weak is that over 99 per cent of these cases are investigated by the local police which has restricted time and resources. They restrict their investigations to their area and do not take the investigations to destination States to look for evidence to show nexus between traffickers in West Bengal and pimps and brothel owners in destination States,” says Roop Sen, co-researcher and a human rights activist, who has been working on human trafficking issue for over 20 years.

These facts clearly indicate how these wrongdoers thrive without being brought to justice, not to mention the agony of the survivours who fall prey to such crimes.

A case in point is Salma Khatun (name changed) who was trafficked at 13 years of age. “I know that the traffickers involved in my case are enjoying impunity. But I am surprised and disheartened to know that the status is almost the same in most other cases. It’s now normal for traffickers to roam free without any fear,” says Khatun, who is now 22 years old. She is a member of survivours’ leaders collective Bandhan Mukti from where, she says, she draws courage to continue her fight.

But not all is lost here. A ray of hope in such cases is Nusrat (name changed), a survivour whose trafficker was recently convicted for a five-year jail term. “I could not imagine that it would ever be possible to get him punished through a trial conducted via video conferencing. But it happened, and the criminal is in jail now. I would have been much happier had the trafficker got life imprisonment,” she  says.

Another survivour Shivani (name changed), who is now associated with Andhra Pradesh-based survivour leaders collective Vimukthi recalls the trauma she went through. “I returned home after spending four years in a shelter home but I am stigmatised by my community. People treat me and my family as anti-social elements while the trafficker who made me suffer so much roams free. I want these traffickers to get punished,” she says.

According to the 2016 National Crime Records Bureau data, 45 per cent of the children ended up as forced labourers as domestic workers or in small industries such as textile and firecracker workshops.

Another, 35 per cent of them were trafficked for sexual exploitation, 4,980 of whom were sold to brothels and another 162 for child pornography.

Rakesh Senger, Executive Director, Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation, says the reason behind the low conviction rate of traffickers is the loopholes in the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act, 1956.

“We are now demanding a holistic law for sex trafficking. This includes the different ways used, including new methods. In the current Act, there is a thin line between sex workers and brothel owners so the conviction becomes even more difficult. We have proposed certain changes in the Act under the Trafficking of Person, Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation Bill, 2018. This Bill is yet to be passed by the Lok Sabha. We have demanded more convictions and a formation of a special court for such issues. We have also demanded that the brothels should be sealed immediately after the raids. Also, an anti-trafficking cell should be deployed at district and State levels so that no crime goes unreported. There should be a special rehabilitation fund to help improve the lot of survivours,” he says. The number of minors are high in these trafficking cases, he adds.

The trafficking methods are changing with the Internet trafficking coming in. Online clients are taken to a brothel which is built in such a way that it becomes difficult to differentiate between it  and a guest house. Here, even if the police conducts raids, there is no evidence to prove that the place is a brothel and not a guest house.

“Even the victims don’t want to speak up in such cases because they are made to believe that this is their normal. Even if they try to escape there is no way out. There is no place they can seek shelter in,” Senger says.

The other method of trafficking that is prevalent in the slums is through shopkeepers who sell chocolates laced with weed to youngsters. This is called bhola link. Since it is in a chocolate form even the parents don’t stop their children from eating this. When children consume this, they faint and can be easily be kidnapped for trafficking. To stop children from falling prey to such traps, more awareness should be created in the form of workshops where the children are taught the pitfalls of eating such detrimental substances.

“In 2017, a 17-year-old girl from Delhi was lured by a marriage proposal and kidnapped from Gurugram. The girl was sold to different sex traffickers in Gurugram. The horrific part in this case is that the girl’s parents were themselves into the business of sex trafficking and they were the ones who sold the girl in the name of marriage. The girl somehow managed to escape. But that was not all. The traffickers again kidnapped her near Jhajhar. That was when she realise that there is no escape until she reports the crime. Then, somehow she managed to come to us for help,” Senger recalls.

Another such case is of a brothel in Pune where a 20-year-old boy fell in love with a 17-year-old sex worker. “The girl was from the North-East working in a brothel in Pune. When the boy visited the brothel he fell in love with the girl and decided to take her out from her living hell. He reached out to us for help. We found that the girl hailed from a village in the North-East and her friend had kidnapped and sold her to the Pune brothel. We rescued and sent her to a shelter home,” he tells you.

Not that these Government-run shelter homes are anything less than a prison, the reason being poor maintenance. “The quality of life in these shelter homes is bad with poor hygiene and infrastructure. In any case they are over populatedand there are no living standards,” Senger says.

According to advocate Pooja Sareen, these shelter homes are beset with illegal activities. “These shelter homes are a hub of crime, more so as the authorities know that the children living there are either orphans or their parents don’t know where they are. Hence, they are exploited,” Sareen says. Most of the victims are from West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odissa, North-East and Nepal.

It’s not only the traffickers who are involved in the crime but some corrupt police officials too. “The Government penalises trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation through the ITPA with a penalty of seven years to life imprisonment.  India prohibits bonded and forced labour through the Bonded Labour Abolition Act, the Child Labour Act, and the Juvenile Justice Act. Also, the Indian Penal Code uses Sections 366(A) and 372 to penalise kidnapping and selling of minors into prostitution, respectively.

Penalties under these provisions are a maximum of 10 years imprisonment and a fine. Yet, sex trafficking largely goes  unreported, unattended and is seldom in the limelight. Thousands of children and women are forced into prostitution. These sex workers are made to service clients both in Indian and abroad. It’s a cruel nexus that rarely surfaces.

“Things go worse for victims due to corrupt officials. They protect brothels, traffickers and brothel keepers from arrest. Law is often manipulated. Usually, there are no efforts made to tackle the problem of Government complicity in trafficking workers for overseas employment. The bulk of bonded labour heads for the Middle-East for illegal and inhumane trafficking of Indian workers,” Sareen says.

Minors are kidnapped and trafficked on fake IDs and documents. “We have failed as a system rescue such victims despite them being brought into metros from all corners of India and pushed into flesh trade day in and day out.

“Many of the pubs in posh localities flourish close to residential colonies. Prostitutes and pimps are a part and parcel of this trade. This happens under the nose of the police and often with their collusion. I can tell you of cases where residents have raised the issue with the police regarding these illegal activities but all goes in vain,” Sareen tells you.

Senger highlights the immediate need for more counsellors to help the survivors overcome the trauma. “The survivours need counselling. Many times the survivours don’t speak of their trauma for months. During this time, their shelter home inmates play a key role. These survivours often talk to inmates as they feel they are the ones who will understand them better because they too have gone through a similar situation,” he tells you.

To help tackle such issues, Sareen suggests that the police should raid places like spas, bars and pubs more often and that the Government should keep a close eye on them. There should be a special squad to check out the NGOs, shelter homes, child and women welfare organisations which claim to safeguard women and children.

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