Article 23 Dialogues-With Vinod Kumar Tikoo, Former Member – National Commission for Protection of Child Rights

As a part of our effort to combat Human Trafficking, we are trying to put a spotlight on individuals who contributed in identifying, supporting and counselling and seeking justice for victims of trafficking and continues to challenge the impunity of traffickers. There are several people across India who continue to contribute their time and energy to combat crime against humanity, which include public officers, law enforcement authority, civil society, child protection officials, journalists, lawyers, medical professionals, and mental health experts. The Article 23 dialogue, gives a platform to all the people working at the grassroot level to connect with the youth.

Today we have with us Mr. Vinod Kumar Tikoo, is a former Member of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights . During his tenure he prioritized and worked on child protection issues.

Sir, can you please share with us your experience on working in the field of Anti-Human Trafficking?

Vinod Kumar Tikoo: We started off with establishment of AHTU in all the police stations, unfortunately which has not been functioning in the way we have perceived or visualized. Unfortunately, the amount of money that we received from the Ministry of Home Affairs, could not be utilized for the reason for which it was taken on the first place. Unfortunately, human trafficking being one of the worst menaces for the society around the globe, is still not taken that seriously by the respected state governments or the national governments of various countries. Especially in our country, children continue to be used as a non-entity, because nobody bothers to believe them or even bothers to hear their voices. Sadly, the sale of a human being or a baby per se is a not a cognizable offence as per law. There have been so many efforts taken to make it a cognizable offence, however, it has still not been taken into consideration. There are still advertisements being put on newspapers that states “babies for sale” which in itself is an offence of abduction/ human trafficking, but is not taken seriously which is extremely unfortunate.

The situation is becoming more alarming right now in the prevailing circumstances. How do you see India’s response in combating human trafficking in term of being the source and destination areas for the victims of trafficking? What message do you want to give to government officials, on how to coordinate and connect to India’s response to Human Trafficking?

Vinod Kumar Tikoo: This is definitely perceived as a social menace, not to the extent that as the government of India lack that punch to crack this syndicate. There are many stakeholders involved in this, right from the ground level to the top most position, resulting in connection with a politician. It is unfortunate that some people working in the police are also connected to this syndicate. Not only the government of India but also the citizens need to keep a very agile eyes on this especially during the time of calamities like the floods in Assam, like tsunami. All these calamities give an opportunity to the traffickers to grab the displaced children and sell them off. This is how trafficking takes place initially and used for different purposes. The government has to take serious efforts in terms of the laws and implications to look into such matters immediately.

When you were the member of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, you created that branch. You tried your level best to bring a change. How did you connect the NGOs and the government officials at the ground level across the country?

Vinod Kumar Tikoo: I believed in asserting my position as a member of the commission. It has its powers. Also, one should have the compassion for the people and for the victims to get them rescued. There have been raids where I went with the police myself to catch the culprits. I tried doing it sincerely. There were many things that happened during that time in West Bengal, Karnataka and North East, in Tripura and Agartala, where we managed to help the 7000 children. In Kerala, where pedophiles used to take children away. I would like to point out that the religion has got nothing to do in these cases. 

You spoke about connecting each other and how the state has to collaborate and target those traffickers who are committing these crimes and ultimately fighting this organized crime. It is because of these front-line individuals, and unsung heroes, this is what the dialogue of Article 23 focuses on. We will be reaching across the country and across the world. We will be bringing the voices from the ground, we will be bringing the voices of the panchayat, of the lawyers who are fighting in the court. Also, police officers at the SHO level, the problems they face in filing the FIRs. Sir when you were there in the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, as a member, you coordinated with the law enforcement agencies. How do think are the ways in which we can strengthen the law enforcement agencies and motivate them in terms of fighting organized crimes?

Vinod Kumar Tikoo: It is very strange but it is a fact that the network of these traffickers is stronger than of the government. There was a case where a large number of children were rescued in Delhi and were to be transported to Jharkhand. They were being sent by the passenger train. I had to stop the train for two nights in Delhi and put them up in Jharkhand Bhawan. I made sure that the children were provided proper food and every possible amenity. I then booked their tickets in a special train that would not stop in every station because we knew that the traffickers would be waiting at every station to traffic the girls again, which was a fact and will always continue. Their network will always be stronger. The government should sense this, see this and visualize this and feel it from the heart and the brain that this might happen. Since, this kind of incident already had happened, we could save all the children from getting trafficked once again. It is not only the government agency but the public at large has to look into the nooks and corners to be aware of such problem, that is affecting our society at large. That coordination has to be done by an apex level body, it cannot be done by a local level or district level persons. Of course, they are the most important connecting ingredients that will get into the connected points. The rule of CWC is also very important. Aanganwadi workers also play an important role in bringing the change.

 How can we strengthen the law enforcement agencies?

Vinod Kumar Tikoo: Law Enforcement Agencies have no option but to get involved since this racket is prevalent across the country. It is ultimately the law enforcement agencies who have to be active and then we have to train the AHTU to be strengthened further. We have to have people especially social workers who are interested in working in these issues. This is one area which is lacking, where we do not have proper recruitment of social workers in this industry which needs to be done. AHTU is one of the most responsible units that need to function. It is not actually functioning the way it should have been.

When you were in the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, you have taken active steps in strengthening the child rights protection mechanism. How do you think we can strengthen child protection system? How can we coordinate the Child Protection Officers and strengthen them to prevent human trafficking?

Vinod Kumar Tikoo: As an example, I would like to mention that Jammu and Kashmir, was the one state which has not executed MOU under ICPS, the reason being that they have not enacted properly the JJ Act , so I took it upon as a challenge, since from the last 15 years they have been evading it. So I had gone and met the governor and met the minister and called the solicitor general and the advocate general. I also spoke to the chief justice of the J& K high court also. We had a consolidated meeting and I had to insist, the ministry to send the MOU. I asked them to sign it. Seeing that happen, we have to necessarily speak to them for one year to enact JJ Act and had to personally go and meet the governor three times and the minister also. That was the way in which it had to be done. The way in which trafficking was happening, the concern required that much of attention. It is important to involve all the important stakeholders, to take serious attention of the issues. So we have to ensure that we are a hard task master and we need to get the work done.

 Sir, your effort certainly created a lot of changes on the ground. It was because of the effort that you personally took as the member of the commission that brought a change in the system.

Vinod Kumar Tikoo: Unfortunately, through Supreme Court of India, we have issued an order to the states to have State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, which did get created because of the fear of the law but sadly, they were not serious regarding their functioning. Until and unless the commission is vested with important powers, it will not take its functions seriously.

It is indeed very important for the state commission to take their responsibility very seriously and to understand the issue of organized crime. Also, as we are going through the COVID-19 crisis, the role of first responders has become even more important now. As someone who has worked closely with the survivors and the victims, what is your suggestion to combat human trafficking during the COVID situation as well as post COVID, also with natural disasters taking place in West Bengal and Orissa, what we can feel is increasing vulnerability and rise in human trafficking cases and child marriage cases. How will you advise the state officials as an experience person who has already worked in these situations?

Vinod Kumar Tikoo:  The local leadership needs to look into the situations where the girls, when being put back are not allowed to go to schools or even leave the houses. Local leaders and the panchayat leaders need to make sure that the girls are not further subjected to any traumatic experience. They have to be provided some economic help. The COVID itself has a stigma attached to it. If a person is suffering from COVID is already treated differently and then when there is a person who is corona positive and being brought from different state, they suffer double trauma of stigmatization, which the government needs to regulate effectively. Especially the local leadership need to ensure that such situation does not take place. The local authorities and local social workers have to play very important role at the district and the state level.

 What is your message to the youth of this nation?

Vinod Kumar Tikoo: My hope for a prosperous India is the youth of today since they are more responsible, accountable and courageous. They are much more knowledgeable and exposed more than I was at the young age. I still have the trust on the youth and hope to see my vision of India to be fulfilled by the youth.

Team Article 23 is Supported by Surbhi Shivpuri -Law Officer Shakti Vahini (Editing) and Shubhashini Kant – Intern (Video Editing)

 

ARTICLE 23 dialogues with Prashant Chauhan of Amity University on Youth Involvement and AHTC Clubs

As a part of our effort to combat Human Trafficking, we are trying to put a spotlight on individuals who contribute in identifying, supporting and counselling and seeking justice for victims of trafficking and continues to challenge the impunity of traffickers. There are several people across India who continue to contribute their time and energy to combat crime against humanity, which include public officers, law enforcement authority, civil society, child protection officials, journalists, lawyers, medical professionals, and mental health experts. Today we have with us Mr. Prashant Chauhan, a social worker, educator, practitioner, researcher and a women and child rights advocate, currently associated with department of Social Sciences, Amity University, Uttar Pradesh. He is actively associated with various civil society organizations. He is elected member of National Association of Professional Social worker; he is also general secretary of Uttar Pradesh associations of professional social worker and member of international association of school of social work. He has completed as principal investigator in free service research project on bonded labour, child labour funded by the labour department, government of Uttar Pradesh. He is a convener of a chain maker club, a club of social science students at the Amity University, Uttar Pradesh, which works for Anti-Human Trafficking Issues at various level. He is an educationalist and is contributing by inspiring young people to fight against human trafficking. He has also been in debates at U.S Consulate, Kolkata programs in bringing youth from his college to come and understand and learn from various programs, on gender-based violence and on fighting human trafficking.

Thank you for being a part of our Article 23 dialogue series. Our first question from you would be regarding your experience in fighting human trafficking in the nooks of northern India?

Prashant Chauhan: Human Trafficking is one of the most serious problem in our country and definitely when we are talking on this issue, it is not like a one-time thing, that in an instance it will be solved because we have to understand the aspect of why this problem exist in our country? There are various reasons like poverty and other situations that promotes crimes like trafficking. There are various factors involved which is why all the stakeholders need to come together to fight the crime. As an educator and social workers, I feel like it is one of my responsibility to engage the youth and other people, to make them understand the issue of human trafficking. People are not aware of the crime, which includes many educated people.

How do you see India’s response in fighting human trafficking especially when we see the involvement of the youth? How can youth be brought into this fight against human trafficking?

Mr. Prashant Chauhan: With India’s response, there are many efforts taken on part of the government and different stakeholders like NGO’s, media persons and even university professors to fight the crime. Coming back to the way in which the youth can play an important role, I believe that the youth are the future of the country. If they understand the crux of the problem, then they can definitely put their energy in this regard. Indefinitely, sending students to different events and seminars are a way in which youth can be made aware of the issues pertaining to human trafficking. In order to eradicate the problem of trafficking, it is important to lay out on how to work towards achieving the goal and how can the youth participate in the same. When I realized the ways in which the participation can be sought, I introduced a changemakers Club, to fight on the human trafficking related issues. Time to time we need to have awareness sessions and outreach activities to make people aware. We organized meetings to engage the Panchayati raj society as well. We are constantly planning on how our students can be involved in such activities when it comes to making people aware about the same. We are making a short-film also on how the club has worked in spreading awareness regarding the crime of human trafficking.

You yourself are a change maker and leading the front in the fight against human trafficking and motivating young students in university. The objective of the Article 23 dialogues is to being forward such change makers who are fighting against the crime of human trafficking. Sir, can you elaborate if your students have engaged with the law enforcement agencies in fighting against the human trafficking.

Prashant Chauhan: We have a concurrent field work component in which the students, twice a week are attached, with NGO’s or child protection agencies, or other organizations. In that regard, definitely youth have the exposure of interacting with the stakeholders, since this is something which they cannot understand by reading books. In practicality and implication, things are very different. To understand those aspects, they should practice whatever they are learning. Our students are engaged in counselling, interviews and other jobs. This way they can learn a lot. They are also taking research projects, so that all the work can be comprehended and can be used in making other children learn about the problem.

Coming to the current situation of COVID Crisis, the essential role of the first responder has become even more important and also become very difficult. As a practitioner, social worker and educator as well, especially during the time where we are unable to reach out to the people at the grass root level, what is your advice with respect to the government’s response to fighting trafficking during his period of crisis. As how can the youth can play a part in the government’s response, not only in fighting COVID-19 but also in fighting the organized crime?

Prashant Chauhan: I feel not only during COVID-19, even post COVID-19, will be worse. Therefore, both the aspects should be monitored properly. Definitely there are certain factors that are increasingly developing vulnerable situations, that will increase the cases of human trafficking. Currently there is increasing rate of unemployment, livelihood opportunities have also become minimal, poverty is rising, there is disruption of education where schools are unable to operate including the health services, will increase the possibility of the problem of human trafficking cases. We have to put 200% of our energy so that such changing situation does not promote the human trafficking matters indefinitely. We all as stakeholders has to unite together with double energy. This is a very cautious time, otherwise all the efforts made in the past will be meaningless. Since the factors leading to human trafficking are indefinitely increasing in this current situation and the families may be compelled to fall under the trap because of such increasing problems. It is important to make people aware and sensitize them on the prevailing issues that efforts taken in the past should not go to waste for which we need to put double the energy.

What message do you want to give to our viewers across the world regarding the Article 23 dialogue?

Prashant Chauhan: Prime minister has rightly said that we should not look at this pandemic as a problem but as an opportunity. Every pandemic gives us new hopes and opportunities. In this way, when we are talking about the effects of pandemic especially in the vulnerable areas, it is important to understand the whole scenario. I would like to take this opportunity to appreciate the efforts of the government to introduce employment opportunities, so that people can sustain their livelihood. But for the success of all these efforts, whether it is health or welfare aspect or the social mechanism, this is a time when we should think of what I can do? Even webinar is an opportunity to sensitize people about the current scenario. So, the primary focus is to take all the efforts that we can do individually to help people and to bring a change in the system. In which youth has a major role to play especially with respect to innovation, telephonic counselling or any other way in which they can help. I believe that we can together control this situation if we work together as a team. I would also like to mention that we are opening this changemakers club in the social work department of all our universities with the hope of bringing a change.

How do you want to see the change makers club to function and join your club?

Mr. Prashant Chauhan: We have a big opportunity for students who has passed out of college and also for those who are currently studying. They all can participate. The club has a vision and a motive. They have taken a pledge to work on the heinous crimes in whatever ways they can contribute not only as a student but also in other ways as well.

Team Article 23 is Supported by Surbhi Shivpuri -Law Officer Shakti Vahini (Editing) and Shubhashini Kant – Intern (Video Editing)

1,100 friends for women and children appointed in Gujarat

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As many as 1,100 Friends For Women and Children (FFWC) have been appointed in the state for assisting in crimes related to women and children, finding missing children, human trafficking, and others, the state police said on Thursday.

The appointments have been made under the government’s Suraksha Setu scheme, the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) of Women Cell, Gandhinagar, said. In a presentation at the recent National Conference on Child Protection Services and issues related to child offences under POCSO Act, ADGP Anil Pratham said that organizations, NGOs and individuals, who are working in areas related to safety and security of women and children, have been asked to associate as Friends for Women and Children.

“They are familiar with working in the field, and can get better results if they are assigned the same area of operations,” Pratham said in the presentation, explaining the rationale behind appointing the FFCWs. He said that the 1,100 FFWC members were appointed in 2017-18, and have been given different tasks for searching the missing children.

The official release said that the process for filling 182 posts in women police stations under the central government’s Investigative Unit for Crime Against Women Scheme is in progress.

‘Maneka seeks details of govt homes in state’

National Commission for Women (NCW) member Sushma Sahu on Wednesday requested Union minster for women and child development Maneka Gandhi to order a probe into the functioning of all government short stay and children homes being run by the NGOs and mentioned in the social audit report of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai.

Sahu, who met Maneka in Delhi on Wednesday, told TOI over the phone that she also sought the minister’s intervention for justice to the minor girls, who had allegedly been raped and physically abused during their stay at Muzaffarpur children home and other government shelter homes in Bihar and mentioned in the TISS report.

The TISS report about alleged rape of minor girls at Muzaffarpur children home led to the arrest of nine accused, including seven women. The arrested persons also include Brajesh Thakur, the proprietor of NGO Seva Sankalp Ewam Vikas Samiti, which was running the children home.

Sahu said when she apprised Maneka of the pitiable conditions in government homes mentioned in the TISS report, the minister immediately called a top ministry official and asked him to provide her all the details and developments on the issue from Bihar.

Sahu said she also wrote a letter to the ministry to order the state level officers for fresh medical examinations of the minor victims. Sahu had visited the children home at Muzaffarpur on June 9. She said the girls were virtually kept in captivity inside crammed rooms. She had raised her suspicion over a door connecting the girls’ room with a printing press located just beside the children home. The press is also owned by Thakur.

 

Delhi businessman held for raping teenaged maid at home

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A 17-year-old girlwas raped by a businessman in his house in central Delhi’s Karol Bagh on Tuesday afternoon. The girl worked there as a maid and nobody was at home during the incident, said the police. The businessman, who had allegedly molested her earlier as well, has been arrested.

The police were informed about the incident by the girl’s father who got to know about it from his wife. They also informed an NGO, whose members came to the police station along with the survivor’s family. The girl was soon taken to a hospital for treatment, cops said. The accused, identified as Kapil Bhatia (40), owns a store in Kashmere Gate, cops said.

The girl told the police that she had been working at the house for over six months and there were people at the house every time she had gone for work. On Tuesday, however, there was nobody apart from Bhatia. When the girl was about to leave, Bhatia called her to his room and raped her. She said the man had molested her several times earlier but threatened her into silence.

Police said the girl was produced before the child welfare committee (CWC) following which a case under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force on woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 376 (punishment for rape) and 377 (unnatural offences) of IPC, and also under POCSO Act and Juvenile Justice Act was registered. The survivor has been sent to a children’s home on the order of CWC.

The police raided Bhatia’s house on Tuesday night itself and caught him while he was trying to flee. Cops are also trying to find out if he had sexually assaulted any other girl.

Disturbing trend: Criminal gangs now recruiting kids

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Children living on the streets are the most vulnerable group of the society, regularly exploited by criminals for committing crimes near railway platforms. The revelation was made during a recent investigation of a case, where a criminal was arrested for recruiting teenagers to commit petty crimes. According to a senior police official, on June, one Sunil Bihari from Pandav Nagar was arrested for running a gang comprising children for committing petty crimes, such as pick-pocketing, theft and snatching.

During investigation, the children were found to be living on the streets, picking rags from different railway stations. The accused used to lure them on the pretext of easy money. Police said that the arrest was made by team of Crime Branch, and the accused told investigators that the gang is operating across the Delhi-Mumbai railway network. Cops added that the gang members are also involved in drug trafficking.

“Usually, the accused would recruit teenagers in his gang to commit crimes in moving trains and in the area around platforms,” police said. Recently, Shahdara district police had busted another gang that trained kids for committing crime in the Capital. Police arrested six persons in the case. An investigator claimed that they found that seven members of this large gang were recruited by the kingpin when they were minors. “The gang used to target children from areas where parental supervision was far less. During further investigation, we came to know that the accused also hired street children, as we found that a 17-year-old member of the gang was a street child,” said the police official. The Standing Operating Procedure, formulated by National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, states that most of street connected children are vulnerable to emotional, physical and sexual abuse, due to lack of secure shelter and adult supervision. Children on the streets are often called ‘hidden children’, as they have no concrete identity. Being hidden, they are at a higher risk of being abused, exploited and neglected.

Child Labour: Capability and wellbeing

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“Well, if we don’t recruit children from Assam, they will get into more trouble, as who will then feed them? By working for us, at least they get to eat properly,” came a sympathetic response from a villager in Kimin block.
As part of a team studying human trafficking in our state, I visited Kimin block in Papum Pare district, due to its close proximity with Assam, in the winter of 2017. Another part of our team in Assam had informed us that almost 80 percent of the local children (from the tea tribes) are recruited in Arunachal Pradesh as domestic help, agricultural labourers, daily wage labourers, and as unskilled labour force. These children are spread across the districts of Arunachal Pradesh, with a major concentration in the capital complex.
In Kimin block, these children were present in hundreds. A few made the transit every day from work in the tea gardens while most others were employed in the capacity of domestic help in the houses of the towns. Ranging in the age group of 6 to 14 years, these children had come to be employed for meagre salaries between Rs 500 to 1500 per month, ie, Rs 16 to Rs 50 per day. While the salary rates differed in the capital complex, the statistics of prevalence remain the same.
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), “child labour” is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential, and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. It refers to work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children and interferes with their schooling by (a) depriving them of the opportunity to attend school, (b) obliging them to leave school prematurely, or (c) or requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work.
In its most extreme forms, child labour involves children being enslaved, separated from their families, exposed to serious hazards and illnesses, and/or left to fend for themselves on the streets of large cities – often at a very early age.
Child labour is engaged in the agriculture, industries, and services sectors. The worst forms of child labour are sale or trafficking, pornography, debt-bonded labour, and child soldiers.
“It is not just the Assamese children; even local tribal children from the villages come to study in the towns and often stay with their relatives. However, they do not do much studying as they become cheap labour for their relatives in return for food and shelter,” said one a school teacher when I asked about the migrant children in their town.
“They wake up the earliest, finish all the work first, and then come to school. After school, they go back and do whatever their relative asks of them at that time. Thus, we have to take longer classes so that most of these children finish their homework in the school itself, as we know most of them won’t get to study at home,” added another teacher.
According to the ILO, globally 152 million children between the ages of 5-17 are child labourers, of whom 73 million are engaged in hazardous work. Based on the 2011 census, India has 5.6 million child labourers. Laws and legislation are in place to fight against these practices, but it requires collective and integrated efforts in ending child labour and promoting safe and healthy work for young people.
“It is quite difficult to find ‘bontis’ (domestic helpers) these days,” my uncle proclaimed the other day.
“Why?” I asked.
“Well, you have to pay the person who brings the bonti, the person who finds the bonti, the person who made the connection between the first two people, and the bonti’s family. Too many payments have to be made for just one bonti.”
The increasing numbers of child labourers (CL) in Arunachal Pradesh need an urgent introspection on the capability and wellbeing of the future pillars of the nation. Our dailies have reported a couple of cases of physical, emotional and sexual abuses of CL. Diverse perspective and assumptions float when we discuss child labour. Are we shaping CL or slashing their future? How can we stop this inhuman practice in our state? Can they have books instead of tools in their young hands? These are some of the questions that bother us.
On 12 June, 2018, the ILO celebrated the World Day Against Child Labour (WDACL), focusing on the need to end child labour and ensure safety and health of the young workers.
What is required in our state is a culture to stop engaging child labourers in our homes, hotels and other places as apprentices, janitors, babysitters, farm a hands, mining workers, and so on. Imagine the future and wellbeing of these young minds, denied education and childhood (freedom, pleasures, play, and socialization). We have failed to provide free education, childhood, and freedom in their impressionable ages.
We need to envision the future wellbeing of our children, where they grow up with capability and function as self-reliant persons. In order to achieve it, we have to give the best opportunities to our children. The laws have to be followed in their true spirit, and livelihoods of parents and family members should be secured, thereby helping prevent child labour. Not an easy task at all, but not an impossible task either with collective and integrated efforts of individuals, civil society, and the state.
These pillars are essential in upholding the spirit of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC, 1992): Survival, development, protection and participation rights of the children. (John Gaingamlung Gangmei is Assistant Professor, Department of Social Work, RGU; Ronnie Nido is former research officer, National Research Study on Human Trafficking in India, TISS, Mumbai)

Girls remain most vulnerable targets

The bride-buying business that amounts to trafficking is burgeoning in the state where numerous girls from West Bengal were sold for sexual abuse. Even though an NCRB report claims that there is zero incident on trafficking in the Valley, the reality on the ground portrays a quite different picture, writes SAFINA NABI

Tamanna (17) and Hafiza (16) are residents of 24 South Parganas, Kolkata from the state of West Bengal. The girls were sold to two Kashmiri men, much older than them for an amount of 25,000 each. Both the men are from Tujan area of district Pulwama, around 40-km away from the main city of Srinagar, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The girls’ parents are daily wage labourers who live in a slum under extremely poor condition. On top of that, supporting a family of seven members isn’t easy at all.

One day, the parents decided to marry off Tamanna and her sister in Kashmir after an agent Shubnam persuaded them that their daughters could lead a comfortable life and they too can earn some money in return.

Soon, these men from Kashmir got in touch with this family from Bengal through Shubnam, a native of Bengal. The sisters were informed by the family that their marriages have been fixed and both of them will be travelling to Kashmir with their husbands. The marriage happened in an informal set-up. The Nikhnama (marriage contract) was signed and both the sisters were given a small amount of money as ‘Mahr’ (alimony) for namesake.

The assurance of wealthy family, healthy lifestyle-two meals a day, and decent clothes to wear was more than everything for the girls and the family to fall into the trap. Soon, they arrived in Kashmir via Bengal-Delhi-Jammu route. Once they reached Tujan, Pulwama, their world turned upside down. The girls were kept in horrific conditions where husbands would rape them through the hours of darkness and family members would make them do all the household chores throughout the day. They were deprived of proper food and kept indoors to avoid contact with outside world. Nevertheless, the girls were in different families but experiencing a similar life of horror. The sisters were restrained to get in touch with each other.

The Escape

One day in early morning, the younger sister, Hafiza, escaped the house barefoot. Luckily, she saved the money that she received as ‘Mahr’ to use when the right time comes.

Hafiza narrated, “I was praying hard that my attempt to escape should not fail… Had I been caught, I would have been beaten to death.”

After escaping from Kashmir she managed to reach Bengal. There she met a journalist, who happened to work in Kashmir. Hafiza then narrated her ordeal and revealed the details about her sister too. The journalist contacted a Kashmir-based local NGO and informed them about the case. The NGO with the help of police started a robust investigation and finally, they were successful in tracing out Tamanna.

Today, Tamanna is living with a local family in Kashmir who came to support her. They wish to become her legal guardians now.

On May 22, 2018, Tamanna appeared before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC).

Explaining Tamanna’s situation, CWC Chairperson, Munazah said, “Tamanna wishes not to go back to her hometown neither she wants to stay in a child home. The report has been sent to the CWC, Pulwama for further investigation. Once the report comes, we will be able to decide how to take forward the case.

On the other hand, the man who bought Tamanna is now pressurising her parents to ask her to return. Her parents are now trying to persuade Tamanna to go back as she has been married to him. Although she has been rescued, no FIR has been registered against the husband’s family.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Farooq Ahmad said: “Although we are investigating the case and rescued her on the NGO’s request, but,we cannot register an FIR as she has signed the Nikahnama. Also, the trafficker has provided it as a proof of marriage.”

“During the course of the investigation, we came to a conclusion that Tamanna needs to be handed over to the NGO as the girl is a minor. She was not only married out of her wish but was also kept in an appalling circumstances,” Ahmad further explained.

Here, Hafiza is back to her home but torment has not increased. In a muffled voice, Hafiza shared, “My parents beat me continuously. They ask me, ‘why did you run away? Why did you come back? They have paid us money?’”

“What can a girl like me do apart from weeping in silence?” Hafiza added.

In the case of her agent Shubnam, she too has a similar past- trafficked to Kashmir where she was married-off to a Kashmiri family. However, she soon got separated from her husband, went back to her hometown in Bengal and married a local. Shubnam then stepped in to the business of human trade- buying and sending girls to Kashmir under the garb of employment-giver, match-maker. Being a local of Bengal, it was a cake-walk for Shubnam to target girls from poor and under-privileged families, luring them with a promise of good job, high-end lifestyle or by deceptively buying them from their families.

Bride-buying common in the Valley

The horrific brutality inflicted on these teenagers is not an isolated case. Going by some information, there are more 20 to 25 women from Bengal and other parts of mainland India who have been married-off to Kashmiri men. The kinds of grooms are those men who did not find any match in Kashmir, belong to below poverty line families or are disabled. In such situation, Kashmiri men buy brides from pimps who usually smuggle girls from West Bengal or other parts of India.

In a similar incident, twelve years ago, Naseema, 29, (now a mother of three) was forcefully married off to a Kashmiri truck driver by her parents for some amount. Today, she lives in a dilapidated house at Pampore, Pulwama, where, altogether, a total of eight members live in a tiny two-room house that serves as both kitchen and bedroom. Naseema, too, is a native of Bengal and was trafficked to Jammu and Kashmir as a bride. Her husband is a habitual drinker and largely spent all his earnings on liquor and drugs.

“I do not wish to see my parents or go back to them. They married me off to a person who was double the age of mine and sent me to a place about which I knew nothing, not even the language,” Naseema said.

Human trafficking is a $32 billion industry worldwide and agents like Shabnum are making a flourishing business by buying and selling girls to Kashmiri men who cannot find a match in the Valley.

India’s West Bengal state – which shares a porous border with Bangladesh and Nepal, is one of the hubs of human trafficking. There is a stout human trafficking connection between West Bengal and Kashmir, where families need brides for their sons who are either disabled or do not find local match to marry off their sons.

There is no check on the illegal buying and selling of young girls brought into the Valley as domestic workers and later sold as brides, neither there is any policy in place. Hence, this business is thriving with every passing day.

According to the latest (2016-2017) data by National Crime Record Bureau, there are zero cases of trafficking reported in the state of Jammu & Kashmir.

“We are not able to do anything until and unless a case will not be reported to us. There are agencies registered with us who supply domestic helpers to families in Srinagar and other parts of the state but, till now, no complaint of trafficking has been reported to us,” said Deputy Superintendent Farooq Ahmad.

मानव तस्करी के दो फीसद मामलों में भी सजा नहीं दिला पाती पुलिस

मानव तस्करी के लिए बदनाम झारखंड में पुलिस की अक्षमता के कारण तस्कर आजाद हैं। दो फीसद मामलों में भी पुलिस अदालतों में साक्ष्य पेश नहीं कर पाती। नतीजतन गिरफ्तारी के बावजूद आरोपित अदालत से छूट जाते हैं। गुमला कोढ़ में खाज की तरह है। प्रदेश की तुलना में लगभग पचास फीसद मामले इसी जिले से जुड़े हैं। चौंकाने वाला आंकड़ा यह भी है कि अब तक तस्करी में जितने पुरुष गिरफ्तार किए गए उनकी तुलना में करीब पचास फीसद महिलाएं भी गिरफ्तार हुई हैं। नाबालिगों को बड़े शहरों में बंधक बनाकर प्रताडि़त करने, दुष्कर्म और उनकी हत्या के मामले आए दिन आते रहते हैं। इसके बावजूद यहां के आदिवासी बहुल इलाकों में गरीबी और बेबसी तस्करों के लिए उर्वरक का काम करते हैं। गुमला, सिमडेगा और खूंटी उर्वर भूमि है। छुड़ाकर लाए गए लोगों के पुनर्वास की मुकम्मल व्यवस्था नहीं होने का नतीजा है कि कुछ मामलों में बच्चे दुबारा इसी कतार में शामिल हो जाते हैं। तस्करी का शिकार एक एक नाबालिग पूरा दर्दनाक किस्सा है।

सीआइडी के पास मौजूद आकड़ों के मुताबिक पिछले पांच वर्षो में मानव तस्करी के 395 मामले दर्ज किए गए। इनमें 152 पुरुष और 74 महिलाओं सहित कुल 226 तस्करों को गिरफ्तार किया गया। शर्मनाक स्थिति यह कि महज छह-सात मामलों में ही पुलिस दोषियों को सजा दिला पाई है। अन्य जमानत पर छूट गए या साक्ष्य के अभाव में बरी हो गए। छूटने के बाद भी ये तस्कर मानव तस्करी के धंधे में लगे हैं। राज्य में महज नौ एएचटीयू :

मानव तस्करी पर अंकुश लगाने के लिए राज्य में वर्ष 2011 में एंटी ह्यूमन ट्रैफिकिंग यूनिट (एएचटीयू) का गठन किया गया था। राज्य में 24 जिले हैं मगर सिर्फ नौ मे एएचटीयू का गठन किया गया। गुमला नगर थाना, सिमडेगा नगर थाना, खूंटी नगर थाना, दुमका नगर थाना, राची कोतवाली थाना, पश्चिमी सिंहभूम के चाईबासा सदर थाना, लोहरदगा सदर थाना व पलामू सदर थाने में एएचटीयू का गठन हुआ। नतीजा है कि कई यूनिट मे समीप के जिलों के मामले दर्ज किए जा रहे हैं।

रेस्क्यू पीड़ितों के लिए पुनर्वास की व्यवस्था नहीं :

रेस्क्यू कर लाई गई नाबालिग व बालिग लड़कियों के पुनर्वास, मॉनीट¨रग की उचित व्यवस्था नहीं है। मजबूरन वह दोबारा इस दलदल में उतरने को मजबूर हो जाती हैं। वर्ष 2012 में पंचायत सचिव को गाव से बाहर कमाने जानेवालों के रजिस्ट्रेशन करने का निर्देश दिया गया था। मगर हो नहीं रहा।

ये हैं राज्य के कुख्यात तस्कर :

राज्य के बड़े मानव तस्करों के रूप में पन्ना लाल, बाबा बामदेव, रोहित मुनी, प्रभा मुनि, सुरेश साहू, गायत्री साहू, पवन साहू व लता लकड़ा जैसे कई नाम कुख्यात हैं।

किस जिले में कितनी प्राथमिकी :

गुमला 186

खूंटी 50

दुमका 12

सिमडेगा 71

राची 11

चाईबासा 26

लोहरदगा 33

पलामू 01

कहां से कितनी गिरफ्तारी :

गुमला 59

खूंटी 31

दुमका 08

सिमडेगा 43

राची 04

चाईबासा 06

लोहरदगा 21

पलामू 02

‘पुलिस मामले दर्ज करती है, आरोपितों को गिरफ्तार करती है। लेकिन पीड़ितों और परिजनों की ओर से कोर्ट में मजबूती से सामना नहीं किया जाता। इस वजह से दोषी बच निकलते हैं। पुलिस बेहतर साक्ष्य प्रस्तुत कर सजा दिलाने का प्रयास करती है।’

:: प्रशांत सिंह, एडीजी, सीआइडी।

 

Forced labour: Assam girl rescued from Kingsway Camp

A 14-year-old girl from Assam, who was forced to work as a domestic help, has been rescued from north west Delhi’s Kingsway Camp, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) said on Sunday – making it the third time this week that a girl was rescued from forced labour. The Commission said that it received information about the case from a phone call, immediately after which a DCW team along with Delhi Police reached the stated address and found the child working there.

“The girl was rescued and also counselled. She informed the Commission that her father had passed away when she was very small, after which her mother remarried and the two began living with the stepfather,” a DCW official said. The official further said that the girl claimed to have requested her cousin for a job in Delhi. The cousin knew a family, where she soon started working for Rs 5,000 per month from February 2017. However, till now, she had only been paid Rs 12,000 till now and even that money was given to her cousin. The owner of the house where the girl was working deals in auto parts.

After her rescue, the girl was sent to a shelter home to stay the night, and she was produced before the child welfare committee (CWC) the next morning. The CWC ordered police to register an FIR and also ordered an ossification test. A case was registered under sections 75, 76, 3, 14 and 16 of the Juvenile Justice Act.

DCW chief Swati Maliwal, on Sunday tweeted, “14 year old Assamese girl rescued by DCW. She was forced to work as domestic help by a plush family in Delhi. This is third such rescue this week by DCW. Earlier, 2 girls from Jharkhand were rescued by us. Delhi has become a hub of human trafficking. This needs to be curbed!” She further said that young girls are working in inhuman conditions in Delhi. “Humanity itself is at stake. We all need to ensure a healthy childhood, education and health facilities for these kids. All stakeholders must come together and act”. Earlier, two girls from Jharkhand were rescued from Rajouri Garden and Kingsway Camp. Both the girls had not haved receive payment from their respective employers. “Placement agencies are running a trafficking nexus in Delhi which needs to be curbed. I appeal to all stakeholders to regulate the functioning of placement agencies. Strongest action should be taken against the employer,” Maliwal had earlier said.