Introduction
According to statistics from various bodies of UN human trafficking ranks third most rampant organized crime right after drug and arms/weapons trafficking. UN has defined trafficking as any activity leading to recruitment. transportation, harboring or receipt of persons, by threat or use of force or a position of vulnerability.
Further, as various studies and reports suggest, about 80% of the global human trafficking activities involve the sexual exploitation of the victims while the rest of them pushed into bonded labour or slavery or otherwise harvested for organs.
India, unfortunately, has transformed into the prime Asian node for this form of organized crime. From the National Crime Records Bureau Report 2016, states like West Bengal and Rajasthan are the worst-hit regions and together make up more than half of the reported incidents of human trafficking. Of 8132 cases reported, over 3500 cases pertain it has done to West Bengal it and a lot of speculation on this subject. the chief reason being attributed to infiltration of illegal immigrants and the protection granted to them by the state’s current regime.
Although various sample studies have It has undertaken although various sample studies there has been no dedicated study to estimate or determine the precise number of victims of trafficking in India besides the error arising from under-reporting that looms over the existing statistics. Among Union Territories, Delhi ranks the first and the worst hit place by human trafficking, accounting for 88 percent of the cases of human trafficking among the 7 Union Territories. The problem is also rampant in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. Most of the trade of victims done domestically, while, sometimes victims shipped overseas as well.
Hyderabad also seems to have developed quite the knack for trading in young girls under the facade of contract marriages under Muslim personal law. Contract marriages racket involving old Arab sheikhs are being operated within the city for selling local teenage Muslim girls under the garb of Muta or Misyar marriages. In 2017, Hyderabad Police raided several guesthouses and lodges and arrested five Oman and three Qatar
Nationals were in negotiations with over 20 minor girls. This unearthed the nexus of this crime syndicate with the Chief Qazi of Mumbai who was issuing marriage certificates for contract marriages performed in Hyderabad for 50,000 each.
Children and young women are the most vulnerable group and the preferred choice of human traffickers. Who use employment agencies as the cover to their illicit trade and lure the parents of their targets with education. A better life, and money for their wards. These victims never find their way to any of these benefits and instead sold for bonded labour. Prostitution or coerced marriage or killed and harvested for organs.
A lot of the children end up working at brick kilns, carpentry units or as domestic help or otherwise, as beggars, etc. Alternatively, girls primarily shipped to areas with a skewed sex ratio for sexual exploitation. The traffickers also feed on conflicts between communities. The infamous conflict between the Kuki and Naga tribes between 1992 and 1997 rendered. Many tribal kids homeless who ultimately trafficked by such agents. Over 9000 minors were victims of trafficking in the year 2016.
As with any other trade, the fundamental premise of demand and supply applies to human trafficking. Men migrate to major cities in search of work but can’t sustain families they’re owing to huge costs of sustenance. So, the money diverted to sexual recreation instead, and that is how the demand created. This has led to nearly 5000 young girls and women being pushed into prostitution as per the NCRB report for the year 2016.
The traffickers mint money off of meeting these demands by buying minors and young women using many methods ranging from eloping with false promises of marriage to abduction, etc. In some horrific instances, the victims sold by their own parents. International Labour Organization recently reported that the Asia-Pacific region may have nearly 12 million people subject to forced labour. Poor people sell their children instead of unsettled debts taken from loan sharks. Irrespective of gender, they sell boys and girls in this manner.
The horrors for these victims don’t end at just the captivity. That is merely the initiation. The inhuman treatment it subjects them to; makes them vulnerable to mental disorders, depression, and anxiety. Women forced into sexual trafficking are at significant risk of contracting HIV AIDS and other STDs. Attempts to escape, sometimes prove fatal for the victims.
For now, the chief legislation enacted to address this issue is the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act (ITPA). Which penalizes the trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation. The term of imprisonment under the Act ranges from 7 years to life. Other aspects of trafficking such as bonded and forced labor addressed by statutes such as the Child Labour Act, the Bonded Labour Abolition Act, and the Juvenile Justice Act.
Gazing the rampant rise in trafficking, the Penal provision enshrined in Section 370 of the Indian Penal Code. It amends section 370 by the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2013 W. E..f. 03.02.2013 and now, the legislature has made it’s intent much clear by substituting earlier existing penal provisions that will now handle this menace with an iron hand.