Cabinet nod to anti-trafficking Bill will go a long way to battle the growing scourge. One just hopes that it sees the light of day soon in Parliament
The voluntary sector of India, the NGO community, operating through thousands of organisations, who have been working towards the upliftment of women and children in respect to human trafficking, have largely welcomed the Government’s decision to enact a new anti-trafficking Bill. Statistics reveal that heinous crimes like trafficking is on the rise. This is shocking and calls for a comprehensive mechanism to tackle the situation. According to the National Crime Records Bureau report, in 2016, more than 8,000 cases of human trafficking were reported in India while 23,000 victims were rescued in the same year (61 per cent of them were children). Forty five per cent of these victims were trafficked for the purpose of forced labour, followed by sexual exploitation for prostitution (22 per cent). This is, perhaps, the first time that data from Anti Human Trafficking Units has been collated to reflect on the statistics of trafficking.
This new law, however, takes care of all aspects of human trafficking: Prevention, rescue and rehabilitation. It includes aggravated forms of human trafficking like forced labour, begging, trafficking by administering chemical substances or hormones on a personfor the purpose of early sexual maturity, trafficking of a woman or child for the purpose of marriage or under the pretext of marriage or after marriage. It provides punishment for promoting or facilitating trafficking of persons, which includes producing, printing, issuing or distributing unissued, tampered or fake certificates, registration or stickers as proof of compliance with Government requirements; or commits fraud for procuring or facilitating the acquisition of clearances and necessary documents from Government agencies.
All these aspects have been covered under the new law. The Bill also provides for designated courts in each district for time-bound trial and repatriation of victims — within a period of one year from taking into cognizance. This is welcome move. The Bill also provides for seizing of property located in foreign lands which is a good effort to deal with such crimes. A dedicated mechanism is proposed to be created under this law at each district, State and Central levels to implement the Bill in its entirety.
It is unfortunate that this law, which was essentially provided in the Constitution, was not defined till post the Nirbhaya incident, which propelled out legislators to pass the Criminal law Amendment Act 2013, by virtue of which, trafficking was defined under Section 370 of the Indian Penal Code. Sadly, despite the creation of a new definition of human trafficking, wherein commercial sex, forced labour, child labour, organ trade, forced marriage and illegal adoption were covered, the law was not provided in its elaborate form making all provisions required for the same. Civil society organisations had been waiting and lobbying for a comprehensive law. Now that this Bill is approved by the Cabinet, we presume and hope that the law will get the Parliament approval very soon. The Bill also provides for an existing agency with all its manpower and resources, the National Investigation Agency under the Ministry of Home Affairs to perform the tasks of anti-trafficking bureau at the national level which shall prove to be more expedient than creating a new body for the same.
The entire character of human trafficking issues is now going to undergo an overhaul simply for the reason that so far, the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act 1956 (ITPA), which covered only commercial sex or in the common lingua, the ‘brothels’ or ‘brothel related issues or as they call it ‘prostitution’, which, as an expression is not acceptable to us, wherein the women victims got re-victimised in 70-80 per cent of cases, happened to be for soliciting, which means that the trafficked victim herself becomes victimised. This situation is unacceptable, and there is an urgent need for a comprehensive law which also fulfils our commitment in the Constitution and the United Nations through the UN protocol which covers all aspects and forms of human trafficking.
I am of the view that this law should see the light of the day soon and should work for the prosecution, investigation and strong punishment/conviction of human traffickers and syndicates. This crime is, perhaps, one of the three most lethal crimes, other two being crimes related to drugs and arms. The entire idea of human trafficking, as is now being defined, is the most elaborate form of definition anywhere in the world because now it covers even begging, and other types of crimes that are committed in the name of human trafficking.
As a police officer and someone who has been implementing the ITPA for a long time, I feel that this law is inadequate as it talks only about prostitution which is an outdated concept. Second, there is a need to shift the focus from commercial sex as other forms of trafficking, particularly forced labour and child labour, have grown extensively. Another important area that the law is likely to cover is on the issue of missing children. Nearly three lakh children are reported missing, of which, one lakh are untraceable, as mentioned by Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi. A huge number of children are drawn into the vortex of human trafficking and forced labour. The role of police, labour department, child helplines, voluntary organisations is important. Therefore, the law bringing all these agencies into its ambit is a measure of great success.
(The writer is General Secretary, Prayas)