Human trafficking is more serious than drug smuggling: Himanta Biswa Sarma

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: A worried Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Friday that human trafficking from Assam is becoming more a serious problem than cattle smuggling and drug peddling. And the government is committed to rooting it out, he said.

The State police rescued 40 children and two adults of the State from Sikkim. Human traffickers lured them from the villages along the Assam-Bhutan border in Chirang district.

The Chief Minister interacted with the rescued children in Guwahati on Friday. He said, "Women and children trafficking from Assam go on in thousands. The traffickers put some of them in flesh trade and the rest as domestic help. This menace is turning more serious than cattle smuggling and drug peddling. We have started intense raids to put an end to the menace. We have rescued 107 women and children in the past two months."

On June 13, Chirang Police got a tip-off that some people had trafficked several children from the Assam-Bhutan border villages in Chirang district to Sikkim. Special DGP LR Bishnoi and Chirang SP Gaurav Upadhyay left for Sikkim. They rescued 40 children and two adults with the help of the Sikkim DGP.

An elated Chief Minister said, "I hail the Assam Police team led by Special DGP Bishnoi and Chirang SP Upadhyay for having displayed exemplary professional skill in rescuing 40 children and two adults from the clutch of human traffickers.

"We cannot tolerate childhood, the most promising period of one's life, being snatched away."

The police arrested the kingpin of the trafficking racket, Krishna Yogi and his assistant Krishna Ram. The duo had taken around 80 children from the villages along the Assam-Bhutan border in the Chirang district. While the police rescued 42 of them, the traffickers might have sent the rest to Dubai and South India.

The Chief Minister said, "If the parents of these children are willing, they can take back their wards. The government is ready to bear the cost of their education. If they don't, the government will take responsibility for their upbringing and education. The State Government will adopt a State policy forthe rehabilitation of such rescued children to secure their future."

Meanwhile, a high-level police official said that most of the kidnapped children are from daily-wage earning families as it is easy to deceive and tempt them with a minimal amount of money.

In June, the police rescued 31 people, including 29 women and minor girls, while being trafficked to Gujarat. On July 13, Hojai police rescued nine girls from Kerala.

According to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), Assam had 201 human trafficking cases registered in 2019.

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