Human trafficking needs to be stopped

New Delhi, Nov. 6 (ANI): Sajda Khatoon was 15 years old when she went missing from her home in Jaitpura, a small village in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi District. That was four years ago. The child had left no trace.

Today, her mother Momina waits clueless, looking for reasons that may have lead to her disappearance. What she is fairly certain of is that her daughter was kidnapped.

In that frantic moment, Momina reflects, the police was the only help she could think of turning to. Then, she had been optimistic. Opinions changed rapidly when she approached them for lodging the First Information Report.

Adding insult to injury, the officer in charge had asked her if Sajda had run away from home willingly. "It took us three months to convince the police that my daughter had not gone missing of her own volition," says Momina. The first 48-hour window, crucial for recovering missing persons, especially children, had been lost.

Around that time, though searching for clues in and around her village, Momina stumbled upon important evidence 1200 km. away. The police had rescued a thirteen-year-old girl, a native of a neighbouring district, from a brothel in Mumbai and brought her back home. She narrated her kidnapping, identifying a local woman as the kidnapper. The child was taken to Mumbai and forced into the flesh trade. Crucially for Momina, the girl also claimed that she had seen a drugged Sajda in her kidnapper's house.

Hoping to trace their daughter with this one clue, the family acted spontaneously and contacted their Mumbai-based relatives who walked through the so-called red light district of the city hoping against hope to spot Sajda. Where police was supposed to be at the fore, Sajda's under resourced family, with their faith already shaken up by the uniform bearers, took the charge of the investigation. Why Varanasi Police did not use the substantially resourced Mumbai Police to help in following up the lead remains a moot point.

Momina's case is not an eye opener, or even unusual. Despite its clandestine nature, trafficking has a stronghold in our country, proof of which is its shameful inclusion in the Tier II list of the United Nations, which includes countries unsuccessful in combating human trafficking. Forced labour, prostitution or domestic work become the working arena for adolescents who dreamt of studying, enjoying, living their dreams. The parents go through the same torment.

Besides abduction, there are other roads that lead to child trafficking. Often lured by promises of a better employment, children and their families fall into the trap and agree to migrate to places far from their homeland, the consequences of which are still to be realised by the government and the policy makers.

"These children cater to the demands of labour for a number of industries like agriculture, domestic work, child marriage and prostitution. Often, runaway children become victims of organised begging, pick-pocketing and drug peddling rackets," said Yogita Verma Saighal, Director, CRY (Child Rights and You).

A report released by the US Department of State in 2010 defines India as the "World Hub" in human trafficking related to prostitution and forced labour. Over 1.2 million children in India are trapped in human trafficking as child prostitutes.

But these statistics would seem to be modest compared to the figures of those involved in this horrendous business - 100 million people in India contribute to the trafficking-related activities. With 90 percent of trafficking transpiring is "intra-country", Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are the worst affected.

The cases are more severe in flood-affected states like Bihar. Studies show a spurt in human trafficking in the aftermath of a disaster as traffickers prey on defenceless children.

There are no easy solutions. The first, and easier to execute, step is prevention. As a society, we need to be more vigilant. Tracing and reporting incidences of child labour, especially in the metros that are the destination points for major child trafficking routes, go a long way. Coupled with prompt registration and investigation processes by the police bring benefits during the first 48-hour window, crucial for rescue operations to be successful. An FIR ensures the case is brought before a court bench.

Traffickers are systematic and planned; no wonder it is called an organized crime. The Government needs to be aware of what they are up against to combat trafficking. The national electronic database needs to be harnessed so that missing children can be traced across states.

The recovery from a kidnapping is a long and arduous journey for the child. Yet, the rehabilitation process leaves much to be desired, especially medical and psycho-social aid for rescued children. The family too needs to be counselled so that the child doesn't fall into the trap of the traffickers again.

The Charkha Communication Development network feels that India needs to recognize the seriousness of the issue of missing children. Collectively demands for adequate human, material and financial resources can lead to establishing a streamlined system for tracing missing children. For mothers like Momina, still waiting for her child to return home, it is the least a nation can do. By Priya Zutshi (ANI)