INTRODUCTION
Human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation is known as sex trafficking. In this victim is coerced into sexual actions, usually non-consensually, in a kind of sexual slavery, it can be dubbed as a sort of modern slavery. People who manipulate victims into engaging in various forms of commercial sex with paying customers are known as sex traffickers or pimps.
Though human trafficking is banned in India as per legislative actions and rules still continue to be a practice People are routinely trafficked illegally through India for commercial sexual exploitation and forced/bonded labour. NGOs believe that this problem impacts 20 to 65 million Indians, despite the fact that no reliable study on forced and bonded labour has been undertaken. In India, women, children and men, are trafficked for various reasons. Girls and Women are trafficked domestically in the country for commercial sexual exploitation and forced marriage, particularly in locations where the gender ratio is heavily skewed toward men.
PROSECUTION
The Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act (ITPA) of the Indian government punishes trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation, with penalties ranging from seven years to life imprisonment. The Bonded Labour Abolition Act, the Child Labour Act, and the Juvenile Justice Act all prohibit bonded and forced labour in India. To apprehend traffickers, Indian authorities apply Sections 366(A) and 372 of the Indian Penal Code, which prohibits kidnapping and selling kids into prostitution, respectively. The maximum penalty under these regulations is ten years in prison and a fine. But Corrupt officials may occasionally enable bonded labour and the migration of sex trafficking victims instead of shielding victims from brothels that exploit them. Instead, these officials should arrest all the people included in this scam in order to create a deterrent effect on the entire population.1
The state of Maharashtra prepared an action plan to combat human trafficking in November, however, it did not commit adequate resources to achieve the plan’s goals. Also, because the government did not break down the figures by parts of the law, data about trafficking violations were mixed up with data about arrests of women in prostitution under Section 8 of the ITPA.
PROTECTION
India’s efforts to safeguard victims of human trafficking vary by state, but many remain ineffective. Bonded labour victims are entitled to monetary compensation of 10,000 yen (US $185) from the central government for rehabilitation, however, the policy is implemented unevenly around the country. Because government officials do not actively seek out and rescue bonded labourers, few victims obtain assistance. Although minors kidnapped for forced labour are entitled to 20,000 ($370) in government shelters, the condition of many of these houses remains low, and rehabilitation monies are disbursed seldom.
CAUSES OF TRAFFICKING IN INDIA
Human trafficking, particularly of women and children, is influenced by a number of circumstances. There are two types of causes that contribute to the trafficking of women and children: push and pull forces. Poor socioeconomic conditions of a large number of families, poverty coupled with frequent, almost annual natural disasters such as floods, resulting in virtual destitution of some people, lack of education, skill, and income opportunities for women (and their family members) in rural areas, lack of awareness about traffickers’ activities, and pressure to collect money for dowries, which leads to sending daughters to distant places for dowries, are all push factors. The pull factors are lucrative job offers in big cities, easy money, the promise of better pay and comfortable life by trafficking touts and agents, demand young girls for marriage in other regions, demand for low-paid and underage sweatshop labour, growing demand for young kids for adoption, rise in demand for women in the rapidly expanding sex industry, demand for young girls in places of military concentration like Kashmir in India in recent years, and demand for young girls in places of military concentration like Kashmir in India in recent years.
MEASURES TO RAISE AWARENESS
With the help of NGOs and police officials, some types of advertisements can be placed in the popular media in a specific location, and awareness programmes can be held in villages, local schools, among children from poor families, and the general public to raise awareness of the dangers of being victimised.
IMPACT OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Human trafficking has significant social, economic, and health consequences. From a sociological standpoint, unchecked trafficking leads to a re-enforcing cycle of patriarchal norms that infringe on women’s basic rights. From an economic standpoint, it results in the loss of livelihoods because the labour remains outside of India’s formal economy. From a health standpoint, human trafficking exacerbates India’s already significant HIV/AIDS epidemic. Human trafficking, like the drug trade, contributes to early death and the spread of HIV/AIDS. Without a doubt, the Indian government is working to combat human trafficking, and the Indian constitution protects essential rights such as freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom from exploitation, and the right to education. According to these rights, everyone has a personal right to oppose trafficking and to put an end to it in India, but in today’s culture, everyone has money and a guilty mind, which allows trafficking to thrive in India.2
CONCLUSION
Human trafficking jeopardises the dignity and safety of those who are trafficked, as well as their human rights. When it comes to real execution, India’s constitutions provide equal rights for men and women, but they are sometimes just rhetoric. To combat human trafficking and thus protect the human rights of vulnerable people, governments must have a strong political will to carry out their anti-trafficking mandates. As a result, every crime that can be profited from one day becomes a major social problem, as in the case of people trafficking. The solution to the problem is still in our hands if thoughtful, forceful efforts are taken and policies are created and rigidly executed.
References
- Human trafficking in India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking
- What is human trafficking https://sf-hrc.org/what-human-trafficking
This article is written by Dalima Pushkarna student at Dr Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow.