Jharkhand will join hands with four other states – Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Maharashtra - to fight the menace of child trafficking. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to be signed by the five states in this regard will help to boost up the coordination among the member-states and tracking out more and more such cases in future.The decision to launch a joint drive against child trafficking was taken last week during a meeting of the representatives of the worst hit states taking place at New Delhi. “We generally do not get the desired co-operation from the other states, where a case of child trafficking is identified by us, hence the MoU will definitely help us in tracking more and more such cases so that they could be brought back to their homes,” said IG (Organized Crime) Sampat Meena.
If the information regarding the missing children was shared among the member states, it will be more convenient for the police to check the cases of child trafficking, added Meena. Very soon a memorandum of understanding will be signed between these five states where intelligence inputs among the member states will be shared, besides conducting joint raids and rescue operations related to child trafficking.A data related to missing and trafficked children prepared by each of these states will also be shared together so that joint action could be taken in coordination with each of the member states.
State Child Welfare Committee Chairperson Sanjay Mishra also asserted that the initiative will help in taking the children back home in a more dignified way. “The MoU between the member states will further ease out the inter-state departmental coordination so that the migrants could be taken back to their homes in safe mode and handed over to the police. Inter-state gangs have become a big problem for us as they are selling the children to other states after trafficking them from here they could be overcome easily if the concerned states work together in this regard,” said Mishra.
Mishra however, pointed out a need of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to track the trafficked children along with a cordial inter-departmental coordination in the state. “Jharkhand also does not have a clear cut policy in this regard, still we are positive that the MoU will help in tracking the children in an effective way,” said the CWC Chairman.The draft, according to the officials of social welfare department, was likely to be prepared within a month or two, which will be sent to the concerned governments for the signing of final MoU.
The decision to unite the anti-child trafficking was taken during a meeting between representatives of Delhi, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand governments in the national capital last week.Maharashtra was roped in as a partner following reports from intelligence agencies suggesting that most of the children smuggled out of the two eastern states – Jharkhand and Bihar, ultimately land up in Mumbai and Pune.The reports also suggested that at least 25,000 children are being trafficked each year from these two states to cities like Delhi and Mumbai.