6 Minor Assam girls who were trafficked across 4 states have been rescued by the cops. One of them was rescued from Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan.
Account to a senior police officer, at least six Assamese girls were rescued from the hands of human traffickers in various parts of the country.
“We were getting complaints about missing girls from the police station in various districts, and that is when we became alarmed.” “They were rescued during the last 10 days,” said Karbi Anglong, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP), Kangkan Kumar Nath.
He went on to say that the first complaint about a missing girl was filed on December 8 at the Diphu police station. He added, “We have arrested a human trafficker and also rescued a 16-year-old girl from Fatehabad, Haryana.”
According to Mr Nath, after receiving a complaint at the Diphu police station, there were at least four FIRs registered at the Bokajan police station. Then they launched a quick investigation and devised a plan to rescue the girls from the criminals’ clutches.
“Two girls were rescued from Bokajan police station and the other two were saved from Dimapur railway station in Nagaland and Tinsukia.” He added.
The statement to ASP also included the whereabouts of a 14-year-old girl who was rescued from Jhunjhuna, Rajasthan.
According to officials, after filing a complaint about the missing girls at the Bokajan police station on December 10th, they learned that the minor girl was exchanged for 1.5 lakh rupees. in the prospect of getting betrothed to a 33-year-old man in Jhunjhunu.
It is said that in this trafficking, there were two people involved, including a woman. However, they are apprehended by police, and the girl is safely returned home. She was rescued by a team of Karbi Anglong that went to Rajasthan with the help of a state police agency.
Assam’s history of Human Trafficking
Assam registered 308 cases of human trafficking in 2018, the second-highest number in the nation after Maharashtra, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) (311). The amount fell to 201 in 2019, making it the third-highest behind Andhra Pradesh (282), Maharashtra (282), and the District of Columbia (283). Assam recorded 124 cases in 2020, ranking seventh in terms of the number of cases after Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Jharkhand, and Rajasthan.
The growth in the case of human trafficking in the state of Assam is rapidly increased in the year 2020. when the pandemic hit the country. Assam has historically been a centre for people trafficking, and it is thought that the situation has gotten worse as a result of the new illness.
Human trafficking, especially minor girl trafficking, has increased in numbers ever since the lockdown. In just four of the Bodoland Territorial Region’s (BTR) districts—Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa, and Udalguri—reports found incidents of 144 child trafficking in 2020.
According to the chairperson of the anti-trafficking NGO in Kokrajhar, Assam,
There may be several factors contributing to the rise in trafficking, including the return of thousands of people who left the state in 2020 in search of employment due to the pandemic and lockdown, the closure of schools as a result of the pandemic, and a lack of seats in schools to accommodate students taking board exams who were promoted in massive numbers without administering tests.
In 2020, a total of 177 people (in 124 incidents) were trafficked in the state, and in the same year, 157 trafficked people were recovered, according to NCRB data. According to data, the majority of victims (18) were trafficked for domestic service, followed by forced labour (26), and forced marriages (14).
A total of 877 kids from Assam went missing in 2020, while 685 kids who went missing in prior years haven’t been found. Police located 1232 missing youths that year. A total of 3859 people (including children) from Assam were reported missing in 2020. The number increases to 7296 when 3437 missing people from previous years are included in the list.
However, Assam has established an Anti-trafficking unit amid the surge of minor trafficking cases.
In order to successfully address crimes involving the trafficking of people, particularly women and children, Anti Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) have been established and put into action.
