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Wednesday, August 22, 2012

BT Cotton child labour killed in accident in Gujarat

Prakash and Papppu at civil hospital, Ahmedabad. Their wives were injured in the accident. Police sent them civil hospital, Ahmedabad, where they were not admitted. Prakash and Pappu traveled from Patan to Ahmedabad only to find that their wives had been discharged. They called their relative in Rajashthan who told them that both women had not reached in village! 

On 20 August 2012 the apathy of Gujarat government towards BT Cotton child labourers has murdered a nine year old Tribal child from Rajasthan. The jeep carrying them plunged into a roadside rivulet near Charup village of Patan. The jeep fell into rivulet early in the morning at 4.00 AM after breaking the iron rods that had been put along the road as a crash barrier. The jeep was carrying Tribals of village Netaji ka bara – panchayat Ogana, Tesil jalod, District – Udepur. All labourers belonged to same village Netaji ka bara. On 19 August 2012, they were being taken to a village to work in BT Cotton fields. The deceased child was Sohanlal Mangilal Chauhan. Sohanlal was nine years old. This is a second incident of death of migrant Tribal labourers after mayhem near Sanand some days back when 24 Tribals salt workers including children were killed in a fatal accident. 

The deceased child was accompanied by his uncle. The policemen from Vagdod police station rushed on the spot. According to Prakash, one survivor, police asked the victims to return their village with the dead body of Sohan. Two women were sent to Ahmedabad for further treatment. They were accompanied by Haresh, who was also the agent who lured them to work somewhere near Shihori in Kankrej Tehsil of Banaskantha district. 

On 21 August, 2012 the details of accident published in newspapers, though the electronic media has already highlighted the incident. Our colleague Dipak Dabhi of Adivasi Sarvangi Vikas Sangh (ASVS) rushed to Patan, where he met Prakash and Pappu, two young persones, who were very anxious to know about their spouses who were taken to Ahmedabad civil hospital for further treatment. 

They contacted us and we had searched in civil hospital’s trauma centre, but we could not find them. When Prakash (19) and Pappu (18) reached Ahmedabad, we again asked Trauma centre’s authority and to our utter surprise we came to know that they were discharged on the same day. Both women were deserted midway and Haresh did not accompany them in civil hospital. According to Prakash, his wife Vaktu could not even walk and Pappu’s wife Devli has a ruptured nose and she has 12 stitches on head. Both women on their own reached their village Netaji Ka bara. 

We have contacted Prakash today and he told us that all victims are still seriously injured and they could not walk.

Friday, August 3, 2012

A state document on human trafficking in Gujarat

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%).

(Duren Banks and Tracey Kyckelhahn; Characteristics of Suspected Human Trafficking Incidents, 2008-2010; US Department of Justice, Special Report; April 2011) (http://bjs.ojp.usdoi.gov/content/pub/pdf/cshti0810.pdfl.

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. `