P.P. Pandey, IPS
Addl DG of Police
Office of
the Addl.D.G of Police CID Crime and Railways,
Police
Bhavan, Gandhinagar, Gujarat State
Tel: 23254402
D.: 7 /1/2012
Human
trafficking is the modern practice of slavery, which has become a serious threat to the human race. Traffickers
generate billions of dollars in profits every year, whereas on the other
hand, victimize millions of people around
the globe. In the backdrop of globalization and industrialization, the menace of human trafficking has, like other parts
of the country, crept into the state of Gujarat too. In spite of the fact that
a variety of measures have been initiated by our law maintaining agencies to contain
this danger, a lot still remains to
be done.
In this setting, with the purpose of creating awareness
among police as well as to evaluate the
steps taken so far to control this menace, information on this subject is collected and recorded in this
booklet. I am sure; this literature
will fulfill this purpose.
I wish to place on record my deep
appreciation for the initiative and hard
work of Shri A.K. Jadeja, Dy. IG of Police and Dr. P.G. Nambiar, PSI in meticulously preparing this publication.
P.P. Pandey
CONTENTS
Definition ...................................................................... 5
Human Trafficking:
An International
Brief...................................................... 9
India.................................................................................................... 13
Gujarat ..........................................................................................15
Establishment of
Anti Human Trafficking Units... 16
Incidents of Missing Humans in Gujarat............ ....... 17
ITPA Cases in Gujarat
............................ . ......... ....... . 19
Some Cases of
Child Trafficking in Gujarat ........... 20
Task Ahead.......................................................................... ..........
27
Summary........................................... ................................... 28
Training
............................................................................... 29
STATE DOCUMENT ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN GUJARAT
Human trafficking is a practice in which men, women
and/or children are moved from one place
to another and putting them in coerced labor condition. The ultimate aim of this practice is to push
individuals into domestic work,
forced sex, labor in agricultural field/factories/ workshops/ construction sites or in various forms of modern day slavery. This is
a serious violation of human rights that occurs
within countries, across borders, regions and continents, and thus, around the globe.
DEFINITION
Trafficking has been defined by the UN General Assembly
statement of 1994 as: "The illicit and
clandestine movements of persons across national borders, largely from developing countries and some countries with
economies in transition, with the end goal of forcing women and girl
children into sexually or economically
oppressive and exploitative situations for profit of recruiters, traffickers,
and crime syndicates as well as other illegal activities related to trafficking, such as forced domestic labor, false
marriages, clandestine employment and false adoption."
The UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish
Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and
Children, 2000, defines trafficking as : "The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or
receipt of persons, by means of a threat or use
of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a
position of vulnerability, or of giving
or receiving payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person for the purpose of
exploitation."
Under the United States Trafficking Victims Protection
Act of 2000 (TVPA, 2000), human trafficking is defined as
the recruitment, harboring, transportation,
provision, or obtaining of a person for one of three purposes:
• Labor or services, through the use of
force, fraud, or coercion for the
purposes of subjection to involuntary
servitude, peonage, debt bondage,
or slavery.
• A commercial sex act through the use of force, fraud, or
coercion.
• Any commercial sex act, if the person is under 18 years
of age, regardless
of whether any form of coercion is involved.
In a report prepared for
the Human Rights Commission, the Special Rapporteur
on Violence against Women, Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, defined human trafficking as:
1. recruitment, transportation, purchase, sale, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons: by threat or
use of violence, abduction, force, fraud,deception or coercion (including the
abuse of authority), or debt bondage, for
the purpose of:
2. Placing or holding such person(s), whether for pay or
not, in forced labor or slavery-like practices, in a community
other than the one in which such person lived at the time of the
original act described in 1."
(Combating Trafficking of Women and Children in
South Asia; a regional synthesis paper,
April 2003; http://wwvv.adb.org/Documents/Books/Combating
Trafficking/Regional Synt hesis
Paper.pdf)
Some of the key characteristics of human trafficking are:
Demand for Exploitable Labor, Coercion and Lack of
Consent, Movement, Third Party or Parties
Benefit/Profit, etc.
There will be source, transportation
and destination in trafficking in persons.
The purpose of trafficking varies depending on the person/group of persons who run the trafficking racket. However, an
element that will be certainly present in
this process is exploitation. And the exploitation would be in various forms, which shall include, the exploitation
of the prostitution of others or other forms of
sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of
organs.
Why Human Trafficking?
India's huge population
and dwindling economy have forced a large chunk
of people to lead poverty-ridden life. The smugglers and traffickers promise
them a better life - a ray of hope, jobs as domestic servants, in the film world or in factories. They offer them money,
pleasure trip invitations or false promises of marriage.
The main targets are the
people who lack job opportunities, who have been victims to regional imbalances or social discrimination,
mentally disturbed, or the people
who have growing deprivation and are from the marginalized communities or people caught in debt
bondages or because their parents
think that their children are burden and sell them off - in simple words- the poor, helpless people are the ones who are
exploited the most. Trafficking of human life is the greatest
degradation to the dignity of human personality. Human trafficking happens
because of a simple concept which the traffickers believe
in- that the human body
is a expendable,
reusable "commodity"
(Shivani Singh; Human Trafficking in India: How it happens, What to do; http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2011/01/human-trafficking-in-india/).
In Indian context, Child shall mean any
person less than eighteen years of age.
The Optional protocol on the sale of children, child
prostitution and child pornography to the
Convention on the Rights of the Child states that the prostitution of children
or child prostitution is the practice whereby a child is used by others for sexual activities in return
for remuneration or any other form
of consideration [Article 2(b)].
The Worst Forms of Child Labor
Convention, 1999 (Convention No 182) of
the International Labor Organization (ILO) provides that the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution is one of the worst forms of child labor. This convention, adopted in 1999, provides that countries that
had ratified it must eliminate the practice
urgently. It enjoys the fastest pace of ratifications in the ILO's history since 1919.
Human
trafficking differs from People Smuggling. In the latter, people voluntarily request smuggler's service for fees and
there may be no deception involved in
the (illegal) agreement. On arrival at their destination, the smuggled
person is usually free. On the other hand, the trafficking victim is enslaved, or the terms of their debt bondage are
fraudulent or highly exploitative.
The trafficker takes away the basic human rights of the victim. Victims are sometimes tricked and lured by false
promises or physically forced. Some
traffickers use coercive and manipulative tactics including deception, intimidation, feigned love, isolation, threat and
use of physical force, debt bondage, other abuse, or even force-feeding
with drugs to control their victims. Trafficking
must have 3 ingredients:
a. Displacement
of a person from one community to another or one place to another,
b. exploitation of the
trafficked person, and
c. commercialization of the exploitation and commodification of the victim.
Establishment includes a ship, commercial establishment,
workshop, farms, residential hotel, restaurant, eating house,
theatre or other place of public amusement or entertainment.
HUMAN TRAFFICKING: AN INTERNATIONAL
BRIEF
Human trafficking is the modern
practice of slavery. It is the third largest
criminal industry in the world today, after arms and drug dealing, and is rapidly growing. Trafficked persons are coerced into
labour or sexual exploitation.
Traffickers generate billions of dollars in profits every year whereas on the other hand victimize millions of people
around the globe.
An estimated 17,500 foreign
nationals are trafficked annually in the United States alone. The
number of US citizens trafficked within the country are even higher, with an
estimated more than 3, 00,000 American children at high risk for trafficking into the sex industry each year.
The boom in Human Trafficking in South Asia with 1,
50,000 people trafficked annually has made this region second only to
south-east Asia in this trade. How India can be
apathetic to this? Having outnumbered almost all other crimes, human trafficking has touched the peak and
has become a serious threat to our nation.
The gravity of the issue has become so alarming that experts
have called for a holistic legislation to combat the rising incidence of this trade. Women, by and large being physically
weak than men, are considered to be
subordinate but not peer to men. The fact remains that women are still under the control of men and they use women as a
commodity at their will, even by
using force.
An overview
According to the UN-GIFT (United Nations-Global
Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking) report, an estimated 2.5 million people
are in forced labour (Including sexual exploitation) at any given time as a
result of trafficking.
Of these:
1.4 million -56% - are in Asia and the Pacific.
250,000 -10% -are in Latin America and the Caribbean
230,000 -9.2% -are in the Middle East and Northern Africa
130,000 -5.2%- are in Sub-Saharan countries
270, 000 -10.8% -are in industrialization countries
200,000 -8%- are in countries in transition
Quoting various sources, the report mentions that,
-161 countries are reported to be affected by human
trafficking by being a source, transit or destination count
· - People are reported to be trafficked from 127 countries
to be exploration in 137 countries, affecting every contained and every type of
economy.
The victims
- The
majority of trafficking are between 18 and 24 years of age
- An
estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked each year
- 95% of victims
experienced physical or sexual violence during trafficking (based on data from
selected European countries)
- 43% of victims are used
for forced commercial sexual exploitation, of whom 98 percent are women and
girls.
- 32% of victims are used
for forced economic exploitation, of whom 56 percent are women and girls
- Many trafficking
victims have at least middle-level education.
The Traffickers
• 52% of those recruiting victims are men, 42% are women
and 6% are both
men and women
• In 54%
of cases the recruiter was a stranger to the victim, 46% of cases the recruiter was known to victim
• The
majority of suspects involved in the trafficking process are nationals of the country where the trafficking process
is occurring
The Profits
•Estimated
global annual profits made from the exploitation of all trafficked forced labour are US$ 31.6 billion
Of this:
-US$ 15.5 billion - 49% - is generated in industrialized economies
-US$9.7 billion - 30.6% is generated in Asia and the Pacific
-US$ 1.3 billion - 4.1% is generated in Latin America and the Caribbean
-US$ 1.6 billion - 5% is generated in sub-Saharan Africa
-US$ 1.5 billion - 4.7% is generated in the Middle East and North Africa
Prosecutions
• In
2006 there were only 5,808 prosecutions and 3,160 convictions throughout the world.
• This
means that for every 800 people trafficked, only one person was convicted in 2006.
(http://www.ung1obalcoinpact.orq/docs/issties
doc /labour/ Forced labour/ HUMAN
TRAFFICKING - THE FACTS - final.pdf)
Characteristics of
Human Trafficking Incidents in the U.S.:
With an aim to find out the characteristics of human
trafficking incidents in the U.S., the federally funded human trafficking task
forces opened 2,515 suspected incidents of human trafficking for
investigation between January 2008 and June
2010. The investigation found that most suspected incidents of human trafficking were classified as sex
trafficking (82%), including more than 1,200
incidents with allegations of adult sex trafficking and more than 1,000 incidents with allegations of prostitution or
sexual exploitation of a child. Eleven percent of the suspected incidents
opened for investigation were classified
as labor trafficking, and 7% had an unknown trafficking type.
Some of its highlights are:
• About 8
in 10 of the suspected incidents of human trafficking were classified as sex trafficking, and about 1 in 10
incidents were classified as labor trafficking.
• Federal
agencies were more likely to lead labor trafficking investigations (29%) than sex trafficking investigations (7%).
• Among
the 389 incidents confirmed to be human trafficking by high data quality task
forces—
- There were 488 suspects and 527 victims.
- More than half (62%) of the confirmed labor trafficking
victims were age 25 or older,
compared to 13% of confirmed sex trafficking victims.
- Confirmed sex trafficking victims were more likely to be
white (26%) or black (40%), compared to labor trafficking
victims, who were more likely to be
Hispanic (63%) or Asian (17%).
- Four-fifths of victims in confirmed sex trafficking
incidents were identified as U.S.
citizens (83%), while most confirmed labor trafficking victims were identified as undocumented aliens
(67%) or qualified aliens (28%).
- Most confirmed human trafficking
suspects were male (81%). More than
half (62%) of confirmed sex trafficking suspects were identified as black, while confirmed labor trafficking suspects were
more likely to be identified as Hispanic
(48%).
INDIA
"Every year, as many as 20,000
girls from the poorest parts of Nepal are trafficked - lured by the
false promises of traffickers. These girls, some as young as nine, end up in Indian brothels or as domestic servants in
countries as far away as the Middle
East. In either case, they're slaves. Many are HIV positive within two years, and dead before they reach
twenty" http://www,himalavan-foundation.org/proiects/girl-trafficking/112919.
An estimated 100,000 to 200,000
Nepali girls and women are currently working
in the Indian sex industry (Combating Trafficking of Women and Children in South Asia; a regional synthesis paper, April
2003; http://www.adb.org/Documents/Books/Combating
Trafficking/Regional Svnt hesis
Paper.pdf).
According to American Himalayan Foundation working for
the prevention, rescue, and
rehabilitation of human trafficking victims in Nepal, more
than a hundred thousand Nepali girls are trapped in brothels in India. This organization identifies vulnerable areas and
children, convince their parents and
put them in schools, which helps to prevent them being trafficked. They started with 54 girls fourteen years ago, and
now they have 8,500 in 400 schools
across Nepal, and they haven't lost one girl to trafficking. They are also proud that reluctance to send girls to school is
dropping away, and whole villages
are asking to be included in their work. Educating the most at-risk girls in a village spreads enough knowledge to keep
traffickers at bay.
The United States has placed India
on the Tier-2 Watch List for human trafficking
for the 5th consecutive year as India has failed to take effective measure in combating it. According to its report, India
is a source, destination, and
transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of
forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation. The report also says that the
numbers of persons affected could
be anywhere between 20 to 65 million. According
to some estimates, the estimated annual turnover of human trafficking in India is around 20 billion rupees. What is
distressing is that out of the
total number of persons affected by human trafficking, as many as 80 per cent are women and 50 per cent are children (Human
Trafficking in India; http://www.policvproposalsforindia.com/article.php7aiticle
id=203£language id=l)
Children
are trafficked for various purposes. Some of them are:
Labour
-Bonded labour
-Domestic work
-Agricultural labour
-Construction work
-Carpet industry, garment industry, fish / shrimp export
as well as other sites of work in the formal and
informal economy.
Illegal Activities
-Begging
-Organ trade
-Drug peddling smuggling
Sexual Exploitation
-Forced prostitution
-Socially and religiously sanctified forms of
prostitutions
-Sex tourism
-Pornography
Entertainment and Sports
-Circus, dance troupes, beer bars etc.
-Camel jockeys
For and through marriage
For and through adoption
As child soldiers or combatants in armed conflicts
(Dr. (Mrs.) Intezar
Khan; Child Trafficking in
India: A Concern),
http://www.inciia.gov.in/allimpfrms/alldocs/12262.pdf
GUJARAT
The State CID Crime is the Nodal
Agency for anti-human trafficking in Gujarat
State. A Nodal Officer of the rank of Dy. Inspector General of Police is coordinating anti-human trafficking activities in the
state.
The DG & 1G of Police, Gujarat State has appointed
all Police Inspectors/Circle
Police Inspectors/Pis of Local Crime Branch, Detection of Crime Branch of
Gujarat state and all A.Cs.P/A.Ss.P/Dy.Ss.P./S.D.P.Os. of divisions of Gujarat state and all
jurisdictional police officers above the rank of ACsP/ASsP/SDPOs by virtue of
section 36 of the CrPC 1973 as Special Police Officer, vide Standing Order no. 9/94 of 21/9/1994.
Gujarat Government has reconstituted the Gujarat State
Coordination Committee on 22/9/2005 under the ITPA. The said committee is being
chaired by the Chief Secretary of
the State and reviews the trafficking problem quarterly.
With an aim to save children in
crisis situation, "CHILD CRISIS INTERVENTION CENTERS” are
establishment in four major cities (Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot) of
Gujarat in the month of March 2009.
Missing/trafficking/abandoned/ children
are brought to these centers, taken care of and handed over to their parents.
In cases of parents not available, such children are handed over to the
children homes.
SAAVCHETI-MA-SURAKSHA: To create awareness among school/collage
going girls on sexual harassment, audio/video were prepared and distributed to
education commissioner, all commissioners/ superintendents of police, local TV
channel and Department of Information and Broadcasting.
There are 21 Government-run Naari
Samrakshan homes/centers, 16 observation homes and 91 children homes in
Gujarat.
ESTABLISHMENT OF ANTI HUMAN TRAFFICKING
UNITS
There are five anti human trafficking units
(AHTUs) functioning in Gujarat State. These are at Ahmedabad rural, Ahmedabad
city, Vadodara city, Surat city and Rajkot city. Establishment of these units
were enabled with the sanctioning of Rs. 37, 90,000/-, vide Government of
India. Ministry of home Affairs, New Delhi’ letter no. VI-201011/36/2010-PM-I-Cr
dtd.28-7-2010 and no. 15020/8/2007-ATC dtd. 30/7/2010. This money was utilized
for purchasing 4 wheelers, digital cameras and landline phones for these units.
1. Police sub Inspector, 2. Head constable and 2 Police constables are posted
in each AHTU. Presently these units are functioning with staff of concerned
police stations. Request has been made to the DG&IG of Police for
appointing separate staff for these units.
INCIDENTS OF MISSING HUMAN IN GUJARAT
There had been a large number of case
relating to missing humans in Gujarat. It also possible that some of missing
persons in fact the victims of ‘trafficking’. However, these cases are reported
to police as ‘missing’. However, these cases reported to police as ‘missing’.
It is also a reality that many of the missing cases are not at all reported to
the police. The number of individuals reported missing and traced during the
last six years is depicted in the below table.
year
|
girls
|
boys
|
women
|
Men
|
missing
|
traced
|
missing
|
traced
|
missing
|
traced
|
missing
|
traced
|
2006
|
1157
|
1052
|
1102
|
1015
|
2180
|
1817
|
1791
|
1391
|
2007
|
1111
|
994
|
1094
|
999
|
2458
|
1990
|
2035
|
1558
|
2008
|
1515
|
1297
|
1140
|
989
|
3298
|
2652
|
2288
|
1743
|
2009
|
1620
|
1291
|
1061
|
905
|
3515
|
2559
|
2363
|
1632
|
2010
|
1818
|
1290
|
1072
|
896
|
4120
|
2753
|
2415
|
1565
|
2011
|
1783
|
797
|
776
|
435
|
3309
|
1323
|
2031
|
830
|
Total
|
9004
|
6721
|
6245
|
5239
|
18880
|
13094
|
12923
|
8719
|
With an aim to trace missing persons,
special “Drives” were carried out at all the cities and district of Gujarat on
various occasions in 2011. These “Drives” enabled to trace a large number of individuals,
including minors, from different cities and districts. The number of persons
traced during these “drives” in 2011 is given under.
District
|
Girls
|
Boys
|
Women
|
men
|
total
|
Rajkot city
|
4
|
4
|
13
|
7
|
28
|
Surat city
|
5
|
1
|
6
|
6
|
18
|
Rajkot rural
|
4
|
4
|
25
|
2
|
35
|
Bhavnagar
|
4
|
0
|
14
|
3
|
21
|
Porbandar
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
Junagadh
|
4
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
6
|
Amreli
|
3
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
4
|
Bhuj
|
3
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
7
|
patan
|
0
|
0
|
5
|
0
|
5
|
Gandhinagar
|
2
|
0
|
4
|
0
|
6
|
Sabarkantha
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
3
|
Kheda
|
1
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
6
|
Anand
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
1
|
5
|
Ghodra
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
Bharuch
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
valsad
|
19
|
7
|
24
|
19
|
69
|
Navsari
|
2
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
5
|
Total
|
54
|
23
|
104
|
44
|
225
|
It is clear from the table that majority of
the missing persons were traced from Valsad district, which is followed by
Rajkot rural, Rajkot city and Surat city.
ITPA CASES IN GUJARAT
The number of ITPS cases registered in
Gujarat during the last decade is given below.
2000
|
2001
|
2002
|
2003
|
2004
|
2005
|
2006
|
2007
|
2008
|
2009
|
2010
|
2011
|
47
|
61
|
31
|
63
|
30
|
41
|
82
|
40
|
46
|
31
|
32
|
25
|
There has been a rise in the ITPA cases
in Gujarat between 2000 and 2008 within intermittent variations. Similarly, the
5 years’ period (2004-2008) also witnessed a corresponding rise with a sudden
shoot in 2006. There were 30 ITPA cases reported in Gujarat in 2004, where as
it rose to 41 in 2005. The same measured further heights to 82 in the year
2006. However, there was a downfall during the year 2007, wherein 40 cases were
reported. In 2008, 46 cases of ITPA were registered, whereas it remained almost
stable in 2009 and 2010 with 31 and 32 cases.
While Vadodara city stood at the top in
2004 with 10 cases, it was Surat city that stood at the peak in 2005, where 18
cases were registered. Surat city maintained its top position in 2006 with 67
and 13 cases, respectively.
It is observed that after 2006, there
has been a steady decrease in the number of cases registered under TIPA. Can
this decline be attributed to the less number of human trafficking incidents
occurring in the state, or is it the sign of laxity on part of law enforcement
agency, is a matter that requires a separate study.
Number of persons arrested under ITPA:
Year
|
Number of persons arrested under IPA
|
Owner of residence/ hotel
|
Agent
|
customer
|
Total
|
2009
|
34
|
3
|
57
|
94
|
2010
|
39
|
3
|
41
|
83
|
2011 (up to Nov.)
|
31
|
8
|
50
|
89
|
Number of victims rescued in the State
year
|
|
Under ITPA
|
Under child labor act
|
2009
|
62
|
103
|
2010
|
45
|
104
|
2011 (up to October
|
34
|
166
|
SOME CASES OF CHILD TRAFFICKING IN
GUJARAT:
While there had been cases of
trafficking women and driving them into flesh trade, there had been also
incidents in which minor girls were brought from other States to Gujarat and forcefully
pushed into prostitution.
An attempt is made here to analyze some
of the “minor-girls-trafficking-incidents” that look place in Gujarat, in which
tender girls were brought here from other states, and attempts made in Gujarat
to kidnap such girl so as to traffic them to other states. Brief of a few cases
are given below.
INCIDENT-1
HISTORY OF THE VICTIM
Kamla, d/o Ranjit Sarkar, age 13 years,
occupation domestic work, R./o village Rajvadi, Abra, P.O. Varasan North, 24
Pargana, West Bengal (Name of victims changed).
She was living with her mother, sister
and a brother at her native. Her father lad left her mother and married another
woman. While in 6th standard, she was abandoned her study due to
poverty.
MODUS OPERANDI OF AGENTS
Selecting the victim: victim’s mother’s
friend Gita and her husband beauty parlour in Gujarat. They also said that
there were many girls of her age working and earning here. Being her friends,
Kamla’s mother believed their words, and agreed to send her daughter with them.
The agents also paid 4000/- to her mother.
Transportation of Gujarat: thereafter,
they took Kamla and reached Ahmedabad by train in July 2007. On reaching
Ahmedabad, the victim was taken to different in the State and forced to work as
commercial sex worker.
Local support: Agent in Ahmedabad came
to railway station to pick up them and took their safe house in their vehicle.
They contacted agents at different places through mobile and landline phones.
The girl was sold and resold to different pimps. When she opposed she was
beaten up. She was always under the control to pimps/agents and was not allowed
to go out. The girl was taken of far off places in their own vehicles. Once she
reached at a particular destination, the customers either visited her place or
she was taken to particular place in auto rickshaw. They have predetermined
houses and hotels, where they run prostitution business.
ROLE OF POLICE
One day the victim escaped from the
clutches of pimps and came out the main road and started to scream.
Understanding her plight, a Samaritan took her to ANHAD, a NGO in Khanpur,
Ahmedabad. With the help of this NGO, a case was registered at Mahila police
station. On registration of this case, police carried out raids at different
places and arrested 91 pimps/agents and prostitutes.
INCIDENT-2
HISTORY OF THE VICTIM
Zeenat @ Parvana, d/o Ayubkhan
Majidkhan, age 13 years, occupation domestic work, r/o Chotigaon, Kolavada,
Vasai, East Mumbai, Maharashtra.
The victim lived with her mother, who
worked as maid. She has 3 elder sisters and 2 younger brothers. Her father died
of TB. The victim could not study after 2nd standard due to poverty.
Hence, she also stared to work as a maid, like her mother.
She worked as a maid in a brothel also,
which was in her neighborhood. This brothel was run by one Salim Nazir Shaikh
and his wife Saina.
MODUS OPERAND OF AGENTS
Selection and transportation to
Gujarat: while the victim was working as a maid in aforesaid Salim’s house, she
was forcefully raped by customers, who were brought by Saina. Though Zeenat
opposed, it was of no use.
Afterwards Salim and Saina took her to
Vadodara by train in February 2007. On reaching Vadodara, she was teken to a
predecided destination, handed over to an agent, who forced her to work as
commercial sex worker.
Local support: There were agents in Vadodara, who helped to
take victim to different places. They used their oen vehicle and auto rickshaw
as mode of transportation. Mobiles were primarily used by agents to communicate
with their contacts and customers. House in residential area as well as hotel
rooms were used for entertaining customers. The agents/pumps took care to see
that place of stay of sex worker is changed often.
ROLE OF POLICE
Police got information that
prostitution place in a particular house. According, police sent decoy and
subsequently carried out raid and arrested the victim, agent and his wife, who
were present in the premise.
On the basis of their statement, police
went to Mumbai and arrested Salim and his wife Saina. The police showed some
photographs from which the victim recognized a rapist police officer and hotel
owner. Police organized identification parade in which Zeenat identified the
police officer and hotel owner. Zeenat was sent to Nari Samrakshan Gruh.
During investigation of this case, an
unforeseen incident occurred. The police officer, who was accused in this case
found that he could not escape the hands of law, and hence committed by
shooting himself using his service revolver.
INCIDENT-3
HISTORY OF THE VICTIM
Jihnasa, age 13 years and Preeta, age
16 years 16 years, both d/o Punno Shibusing , r/o nr.Partna Chandanarni,
Khadakpur, dist.Baleshwar, Orissa.
The victims were living with their
parents, 3 sisters and a brother at native. Their parents worked as laboures
and were not able to send their children to school due to poverty.
MODUS OPRENDI OF AGENTS
Selecting the victims: Basanti and Mala, two women
friends of victim’s mother, went to their house and offered help to get work
for her two daughters in Gujarat. Parents of victims were swayed away with the
talks and promises made by these women and decided to send their two daughters
with them Gujarat.
Transportation to Gujarat: Jignasa and preeta (victims) along with
Basanti and Mala boarded at train from Orissa and reached Ahmedabad after 2
days of journey in April 2008. Subsequently they were taken to above women’s
house in Nirnaynagar, where 3 more girls were staying.
Local Support: When
the victim sisters were forced to engage in commercial sex work, they opposed.
Hence they were beaten up, threatened and locked up in a room. The house was
brothel and other girls stayed there and as sex workers. There were
agents/pimps who brought customers. The girls were sent to hotel as per
requirement and pimps always kept watch on them.
Third day when Preeta got an opportunity from the
house and went to police station, where she lodged a complaint.
ROLE OF POLICE
After lodging the complaint, Preeta helped police
to locate the place of offence. Police raided the house, rescued and arrested
pimps/agents and prostitutes.
Afterwards Preeta and Jignasa were sent to their
native place, Orissa.
INCIDENT-4
VICTIMS
Deepa, 10 years and Saroj, 11 years, Shahibaug,
Ahmedabad. They went to an eatery stall near Saibaba temple in Shahibaug,
Ahmedabad.
MODUS OPERANDI OF AGENTS
Selecting the victims: In March 2009, a lady pimp Jayvanti Gangwani
spotted the girls near an eatery stall. She took the girls aside and told them
that she had organized a ritual function in which small girls were given food,
and lured them to have food with her. On her persuasion, the girls agreed.
Thus, she was able to take them away from the
eatery stall. When they reached near a
car, Jayvanti pushed them inside the vehicle, which was subsequently driven
off. On the way she got down and telephoned to somebody. While proceeding
further, they were apprehended by the police who were on petrol.
Local Support: keeping vehicle in ready position and presence of driver in it, show the
existence of local support to the accused. Calling somebody on phone on the
way, indicated she had contacted somebody to inform about the kidnap.
ROLE OF POLICE
After the arrest, police interrogated Jayvanti,
who confessed that she was attempting to kidnap those girls and to take them to
Pune. Thereafter, these girls were supposed to be sold at a price of Rs.
50,000/-. She carried out this business with the help of her friend Kamla and
Balsingappa from Chennai.
INCIDENT -5
VICTIM
Vaishnavi, 13 years, belonging to Jharkhand.
Landing in Gujarat: The victim is from a very poor
family. Her parents came in contact with a placement agency named New Laskshmi
Group, New Delhi and requested them whether they could find any work for their
daughter. One Tarunbhai Khatter and his wife residing in Rajkot were in need of
a servant who could take care of their daughter of 5 years and their house,
contacted the placement agency. This agency provided Vasishnavi to Tarunbhai.
ROLE PO POLICE
In April 2009, an unidentified caller informed
security squad, police commissioner office, Rajkot city that girl was
forcefully being confined and tortured in the house of Tarunbhai. One the basis
of this telephonic message, police reached the place and brought the girl,
Tarunbahi and his wife to the police station. However, the girl did not give
any complaint against Tarunbhai, and showed her willingness to go back to her
parents. As she was sent to Rajkot by New Lakshami Group, she was restored with
this agency.
TASK AHEAD
a.
There is an urgent need to sensitize police about the
menace of human trafficking. Human trafficking could be for exploitative labour
or for sexual exploitation. Hence, this subject has to be incorporated in the
syllabus of their training.
b.
Frequent refresher training/workshop required to be
organized on this subject for the police, so that they could realize the
significance of this issue and become more alert on it.
c.
There is a need to bring attitudinal change in the
mindset of police towards human trafficking victims, which would enable them to
encourage victims of this threat to file case.
d.
Intelligence
collection on human trafficking at police station level should be augmented.
e.
Police have to be in close coordination with NGOs working
with women and children, so that they could inform about victims of
trafficking.
f.
Reliable ‘sources’ are to be created to collect
intelligence on human trafficking and the ‘sources’ are to rewarded suitably.
For this purpose, source money be allotted, and the identity of informers must
be kept secret.
g.
During raids and arrests, all steps should be taken to
preserve dignity of victims so as to prevent violation rights.
h.
There is a need to set up a coordination committee at
State Level for coordination and exchange of information on human trafficking
with other States. Help could be sought/extended for arresting people involved
in human trafficking and staying in other States. Such a committee should
comprise of police authorities, Labour Department authorities, officials from
Department of Women and Child Development.
i.
Police should identify centers of immoral trafficking of
women and children in their jurisdiction and ensure that vigil is maintained
and action is taken under the ITPA 1956, when situation arises.
j.
Use media to exhort people to be alert about human
trafficking and to encourage them to impart information of such activities, if
any, to the police.
SUMMARY
·
There is lack of awareness among police regarding human
trafficking.
·
A large number of people, including women and children,
are being reported “missing” in Gujarat State.
·
There had been intra and interstate human trafficking
cases of girl children in Gujarat,
·
All the girls mentioned in above cases were below 14
years, except one whose age was 16 years.
·
All the girl victims were selected and brought to Gujarat
by friends/relatives of their parents, who were very poor. They assured their
parents to arrange jobs for their daughters in Gujarat and deceivingly brought
here.
·
The agents/pimps have local support in Gujarat who
provided transportation, safe house and other necessities to run the racket.
·
Mobile/telephonic conversation was primarily used by
agents to communicate with their contacts and customers.
·
Rented houses as well as hotel rooms were used for
entertaining customers.
·
On getting information police raided the premises and
arrested pimps/agents and prostitutes.
TRAINING
The women Cell of CID Crime has organized 12
workshops on JJ act and ITPA at different intervals in which a total of around
1220 police and NGO personnel were trained. In 2011, training on prevention of
human trafficking was organized at Gujarat police Academy, Karai, Gandhinagar
between 23/8/2011 and 25/8/2011. As of late, a workshop in collaboration with
Gender Resource, Ahmedabad was organized on domestic violence and Gender
Sensitization at Ahmedabad Management Association on 17th and 18th
of November 2011. `
