This article has been written by Shristi Roongta, a student of Amity Law School, Kolkata. The article talks about how the prevelance of internet and smartphones have played a crucial role in rise of human trafficking in India.
Human trafficking is not a new issue especially in India. In today’s world, thousands of men, women and children of all ages are being forced into human trafficking. There are many states in India which are the primary sources of human trafficking. In this era of the internet, where the internet is just as important as a basic need of a human being, it is quite easy for the traffickers to lure girls or women. With the increase in the usage of social media amongst the youth, the traffickers can easily contact or connect with them and can easily access their plans virtually. The crime of human trafficking committed over the internet is called cyber-crime. These crimes are related in cyberspace and use the internet as their means to their commission. Human trafficking is a serious issue which is increasing with every passing day.
Table of Contents
What is human trafficking?
The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons defines Human Trafficking or trafficking of persons, “Trafficking in Persons means the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the 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 the giving or receiving of payments or benefit to achieve the consent of the person having control over another person, for the purpose exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs”.
To know more about the laws for protection against human trafficking in India in brief, please refer to the video below:
Human trafficking is an illegal trade of people. It is business in which girls or even boys are transported from one states or country to another for several purposes such as forced labour, organs removal, prostitution or laboring children for war purposes, slavery etc. It even takes place between countries. In India, according to the reports Bangladesh and Nepal are the major sources of transmission of girls to India. Human trafficking is an old concept which occurred many years ago and was abolished. Now, in this modern time, again such horrendous crime is taking its roots. It is a common belief that only women and girls are get involves in human trafficking but it is not true. The male also gets transported from countries to countries for forced labour or for their organs removal. The Indian women are transported for sexual exploitation and the children for labour. This criminal activity mainly takes place mainly among the poor section of the society. The poverty stricken people are easily trapped in this crime.
According to the statistics of the National Crime Records Bureau, three out of five people trafficked in 2016 were children below the age of 18 years. It is also estimated that in 2016, almost 20,000 women and children were victims of human trafficking.
In most cases, the source of traffickers are the stores selling mobile phones and recharges data, mainly in villages. For example, a girl went to a mobile store to recharge, she notes down her number in the diary of the store owner and he passes on this number to the traffickers or the man himself takes the number from the diary. Mostly, the luring is done in the form of marriage proposals or by giving the idea of high paid jobs. The traffickers even lure the girls or boys by giving them modelling offers or by offering auditions in movies or TV shows. They give several ads on the internet like earn Rs.1 lakh and so on.
Sex trafficking and related cases
Sex trafficking is a form of human trafficking for sexual exploitation. It’s a form of modern day slavery where a person mainly girls performs commercial sex through force, coercion or fraud. Sex trafficking on the internet is done via mobiles and computers. Mobile phones have become basic needs for us. In this time, where having a mobile phone is not a big thing everyone has it. So it makes convenient for the sex traffickers to attract people for the activity. In some of the cases it was seen that the girls are from a poor section of society though they had smartphones with internet connection or if internet is not available a phone call will work. The traffickers just speak sweetly with the teenagers and trap them easily.
In a case of Delhi in the year 2017, a girl named Farzana (changed name) called her mother after three months from the phone of one of her clients from GB road, Delhi- one of the India largest red light district. This girl was from a small village in west Bengal’s south 24 parganas district. She was preparing for her matriculation exam and was the fourth child among five. Her elder brother was the bread earner in her family and she was only the clucky child who got a chance to study. But in April 2017, she got a call on her phone from an unknown number. A soft spoken boy spoke to her and told his name Sabir Ahmad Gazi and said that he got the number from her brother. When after some days they starting having long conversation over her phone, she lured her by showing a happy and rich life and about love. When she left her home with Sabir, he took her to Muniya and asked her to teach Farzana ‘the work’. When Farzana questioned about the work, he answered with a slap and thereafter she got the ‘training’. Then she was involved into prostitution. Sabir had lured Farzana into sex trafficking by simply calling her over phone even without meeting her in person.
The same case took place in Jharkhand’s Ramgarh District, where a girl named Neetu received a Whatsapp message on the phone in 2016. She did not even know how the boy was but she easily got interested in him.
Not only in the remote villages but also in the cities this crime happens. In Mumbai, a woman of 21 years old was trapped by just a request on Facebook. A stranger requested her and lured her. When she went to meet him he took her to the southern Indian city of Hyderabad and sold her.
Child trafficking
One of the most serious issues prevalent especially in India. According to the reports published by U.S. Department of State, “India is a source, destination and transit country for men, women and children subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking. The majority of India’s trafficking problem is internal and those form the most disadvantaged social strata- lowest caste Dalits, members of tribal community, religious minorities and women and girls from excluded groups- are most vulnerable”. The children of poor sections are often trafficked to be forced labour. The parents of these children are lured to their poor socio-economic condition; they are forced to send their child for better livelihood. The traffickers promise the parents for a huge wage amount and transport the children to big cities.
Usually sex trafficking takes place on the internet because the traffickers does not have to go to the house of the girls in order to lure her parents for the job, they simply sit with their hones, call or message the girls and the work is done.
The laws for the protection against human trafficking
- Under the Constitution, Article 23 and 24 deal with Right against Exploitation. Article 23 of the Constitution states that the trafficking of human and forced labour is prohibited. It is a punishable offence in the eyes of law.
- As per the provision enshrined in the Constitution of India, the government passed “the immoral Traffic (prevention) act, 1956, a premier legislation for prevention of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation and the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976.
- Subsequently, a bill, the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018 is also formulated for investigation of all types of trafficking and rescue and rehabilitation of trafficked victims. It also establishes investigation and rehabilitation authorities at the district, state and national level.
- Criminal law (amendment) Act 2013 has come into force and section 370 of Indian Penal Code has been substituted with Section 370 and 370A of IPC provides for measures to counter menace of human trafficking including trafficking of children for exploitation.
When the girls and women are rescued by the police from the brothel, the girls are institutionalized forcibly with other girls who are alone and are from very poor families in shelter homes. This has become a serious issue as they are forced to stay in rehabilitations. But as per ITPA, the victims of sex trafficking rescued by the police are has to be produced before the court, if she is an adult within 28 days, along with a detailed report of the family and family willingness and their capacity to protect the women exploitation.
Survey reports
As per the reports of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), “the average age of an identified victim of trafficking is 26 years old, at the time of assistance), and half of those identified are between 18and 34 years old. The average age of victims identified in 2015-2016 is 29 years old, with male victims being on average older than female. At least 16% percent were children”.
The survey of UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Global Report on Human Trafficking 2016 says, “Over two years this exercise produced data on approximately 63251 identifies victims of trafficking from 106 national governments. Data are largely not only unit record information but absolute numbers disaggregated by variable such as age, sex and type of exploitation wherever possible”.
Conclusion
With a tremendous increase in the usage of internet, social media, smartphones there is an increase in crimes. The human trafficking on the internet is so easy that even the trafficker does have to step out from his place only phone will do his work. Human trafficking has become such a serious issue with every other day. The data of NCRB shows that sexual exploitation for prostitution was the second major purpose for human trafficking in India, the first is forced labour. The women, men and children are being sold from one state to another just because they are mainly from the poor section who cannot afford a living? The children are sold by their parents so that they will earn them a living; the Indian women are sold for sexual exploitation. Those women are a source of income for the brothels and their agents.
By exploring the facts, we get the idea that usually young girls are lured over the phones or through a message. The traffickers have the idea that the girls who are not well educated or are from the poor section will easily be trapped. The same goes in case of men who are in search of jobs, they search on the internet for the jobs when they are called for a meeting; they get trapped and are forced into the racket of organs removal. Mostly the rural areas of India are trapped in the human trafficking. The girls are lured because of their financial condition, when they feel that the soft spoken man on the phone will give her a better life without even a thought, run away with him and get stuck in one of the biggest criminal activities. Though the governments are taking measures and exposing those horrific people but some questions remain unanswered. When the girls or women return from their tormented experience, will the society accept her? Will her parents accept her? Will she be able to live a normal life again? Most of the people rather almost everyone will say, NO.
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