Anita (name changed) a 17-year-old was sold four times in a period of six months and the first person to sell her was the young boy she fell in love with. A resident of Simdega, this young girl fell for the promises of a young man she met at a local market who proclaimed his undying love for her before taking her to Delhi and selling her away to an agent, who went on to ‘sell’ her to three other clients in a short duration of six months.
Similarly, Pinky (name changed), 15, ran away from her home with her 17 year old boyfriend she met on way to school. The young boy promised to marry her and took her to Mumbai. However, the girl ended up in a brothel where she was put in by an agent who paid her boyfriend when he handed over the girl.
Both the cases are among the many others reaching child welfare committee of Ranchi on a regular basis. Members of CWC Khunti informed that the number of such cases reaching them has also increased over the last few months.
With the changing times, the trend of human trafficking has also been changing and now instead of luring the girls with money and a better livelihood opportunity, the traffickers are now trapping the innocent girl on the name of love.
Member of CWC Khunti, Basanti Kumari Munda said that of the total human trafficking cases the committee receives, at least 50 per cent are somewhere related to love affairs.
CWC Khunti member Baidnath Kumar said, “There was a time when the girls were lured by traffickers on the promise of providing them good jobs but with awareness being raised against such people in the villages, girls gradually started to understand that they should not fall in this trap. This is when the traffickers came up with the new plan of using the angle of love to lure these girls away.”
Chairperson of Ranchi CWC, Rupa Kumari claimed that in most of these cases, not just the girl but her lover is also minor.
“The minor boys are given a handsome amount of money to trap the young girls and hand them over to traffickers in big city. Once these girls land in the hands of trafficker they are either sold away to a particular client, or in a brothel or employed as a domestic help,” Kumari said.
She added, “Most of these girls are from semi urban areas where the mobile phones have reached but there is still lack of awareness about its usage. The girls often come across these lovers through unknown calls on mobile phone or on their way to or from school.”
Talking about the way to stop this form of trafficking, the CWC chairperson said that awareness programmes and continuous follow-ups are the only way out.
“The awareness programmes should be organized at village level by para legal volunteers and other stakeholders where the parents and the adolescents are informed about this method being used by traffickers. Also, there should be regular follow-up programmes to ensure that the words reach to the last person of the village,” she said.
Member of CWC Khunti, Basanti Kumari said that the CWC held a meeting with the Khunti DC regarding this issue two days ago where they came up with the idea of painting slogans on the wall to make people aware.
“Awareness programmes should also be organized at schools to reach out the adolescents and at village level child protection committees to inform parents about this so that they can also keep an eye out on their children to ensure that they are not falling in any traps,” she said.