DIG (CID) enumerates gray areas in system for urgent measures
By our Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, Nov 7: Be it John Doe or Jane Doe – they may not know whether to cry or laugh – for the news is such a blend of vice and virtue for them. Assam topped the list of States in the tion on the number of human trafficking cases in 2015-16, and in sync with that the State received the best award in 2017 for rescuing as many as 194 trafficked persons, the highest in the tion.
Needless to say that after drug peddling and gun running, human trafficking is the third most profitable business in India. Human trafficking in Assam has diverse shades for diverse purposes. Trafficking may be through threat, use of force, abduction, fraud and abuse of power, including giving or receiving payments of benefits. Likewise, traffic may be for physical and sexual exploitation and removal of organs that come under Section 370 of IPC. Human trafficking has assumed the status of a fast-growing crime in Assam and its investigation is challenging.
Sharing views and information on human trafficking, State DIG (CID) Rauk Ali Hazarika said: “The victims are mostly from poor families. The agents of a trafficking network are also, in most of the cases, known to the persons being trafficked. This is essentially a business of ‘reposing trust and breaching it’. The agents convince family members that their daughters or sons will be placed in jobs in the metropolitan cities. Trains, buses and waterways are the mostly used modes of transportation by traffickers. Factors responsible for such a fast growth of crimes are poverty, lack of awareness among guardians as well as wards, lack of education, geographical remoteness of Assam and the huge demand of manpower, especially girls, in the metropolitan cities of the country. Commul and ethnic clashes in the State, besides insurgency, also add to the mece. Trafficked girls from Assam are generally sent to North India and South Western India.”
Sharing some information from tiol Crimil Record Bureau (NCRB), the DIG said: “In 2016-17 Sonitpur district topped the list in the number of trafficking cases in the State. It was followed by Morigaon with 21 cases, Kamrup with 17 cases, goan with 17 cases, Tinsukia with 15 cases, Kamrup(M) with 14 cases and Dhubri with 13 cases. In 2015-16, the State topped the list in the tion on human trafficking with as many as 1,494 cases registered. There might be more cases that were not registered. In some communities, gaonburhas settle such cases and they don’t allow victims or their families to register cases. Such cases are mostly found in galand and Manipur.”
When asked on reasons behind rise in crimes against women in the State, Hazarika said: “The status of women is high in Assam. This apart, women come forward to register cases, registration of false cases, dowry cases, kidpping, etc., add to the statistics. The inclusion of some abuses like sexual harassment and stalking as crimes against women in 2013 has also raised the number of such cases in the State.”
Spelling out some of the measures taken up to fight the mece, the DIG said every district of the State has an anti-human trafficking unit each manned by an inspector, two sub-inspectors, two head constables, two constables, a social worker, and an official each from Health and Education departments. “We’re imparting regular training to our personnel for their capacity building. We also hold awareness programmes in schools and colleges in collaboration with NGOs. We’ve constructed a task force for suggesting measures to check the mece. Apart from this, there’re coorditing bodies involving stakeholders to monitor such crimes. There are standard operatiol procedure (SOP) translated into Assamese in each and every police station in the State. In accordance with the Special Juvenile Police Act, the second officer of every police station has to look after child welfare cases,” he said.
The DIG, however, laments that lack of funds is a hurdle, as often as not, on the part of the police to check the mece. “We need shelter homes, medical care, counseling, legal aid and the like for rescued girls. They simply refuse to come back, as more often than not their families refuse to accept them. They like to be where they are on the ground that they can at least eke out their living, no matter how,” he said, and added: “Recruitment of more women police personnel is a must. We need dedicated women cell in every police station, besides more recruitment of civil police. Since people from NGOs and other government officials accompany us in conducting raids against trafficking, NGO people should also be given some incentives so as to encourage them. Maintence of migration registers in DC and block offices is a must.”