KIDS BELONG IN SCHOOL NOT KITCHEN
MALLICA JOSHI IN THE HINDUSTAN TIMES
Talk to residents who have hired an underage domestic help and you will soon see them clamouring to justify their actions. “At least she is getting three square meals here. She would have died in her village”, “We treat her very well. We give her new clothes twice a year and also let her watch television. She wouldn’t get these things at home”, and “We take her along for all our vacations. Last year we took her to Singapore in an airplane”.
These are the usual protestations you would hear from those trying to justify their crime. “What most of these people do not understand, or choose to ignore, is that the girl should be in school, just like their children are. She should get the emotional support of her family and should be given the right to make informed choices,” said Rishi Kant, member, Shakti Vahini, an NGO.
What needs to change in the mindset of the middle and upper-middle class which is the primary employer of child domestic workers. Hindustan Times spoke to a number of families who have employed children to work in their homes most of these families have young children of their own. In fact the child domestic workers are hired primarily to take care of these children. But none of these families thought what they were doing was illegal.
“Unless this mindset does not change and the laws don’t become stricter, trafficking is here to stay,” Kant added.
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Activists, NGOs root for stronger laws
Activists, NGOs root for stronger laws
MALLICA JOSHI IN THE HINDUSTAN TIMES
As voices centred on trafficking crimes are slowly becoming louder and questions marks over the lack of regulation of placement agencies being raised increasingly, the pressure on the Delhi government to come up with a regulatory law has increased. According to experts, however, Delhi government’s draft Delhi Private Placement Agencies (Regulation) Bill, 2012 leaves a lot to be desired. “The draft Bill provides for no welfare mechanism for domestic helps nor does it stipulate minimum wages. It also does not talk of a monitoring mechanism in procurement areas. These are key areas which are central to the problem of trafficking and also to the betterment of the domestic helps,” said Rishi Kant, member, Shakti Vahini, an NGO working against child trafficking.
The draft Delhi Private Placement Agencies (Regulation) Bill, 2012, would be placed before the assembly in February 2013.
“The draft Bill has not clearly spelt out the rights of the domestic helps. It also does not seek to set up a mechanism whereby domestic workers can lodge complaint of sexual harassment/sexual assault by placement agents,” Kant added. Woman and child department of Delhi government is now planning to bring a new legislation to rein in trafficking of minors, especially girls, and women. “We are working on a separate law,” said Delhi social welfare minister Kiran Walia.
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Concerted efforts will weed out trafficking
MALLICA JOSHI IN THE HINDUSTAN TIMES
Picked up from Simdega district in Jharkhand, Meena was first taken to Patna and then to Delhi by train. She stayed in the national Capital for a week after which she was put on a bus for Ahmedabad. In a story traversing four states, the 13-year-old found herself changing hands four times after which she was finally rescued by the police from a house where she was working as a domestic maid.
Meena’s story indicates how the challenge of trafficking needs coordinated efforts by different states. The growing menace of child trafficking can only be curbed if state agencies formulate laws and work together.
“Political will is very important. It will not help if Delhi alone follows all guidelines. We need a strong coordinated effort by the state governments and police force of Jharkhand, West Bengal and Delhi. The Juvenile Justice Act needs to be followed in letter and spirit in all states and the Child Welfare Committees need to be made functional,” said Raajmangal Prasad, child rights activist.
While child trafficking is an organised crime, the investigation and prosecution of traffickers is lackadaisical.”Inter-state investigation in such cases is very weak. They are not linked from the source states to the destination area,” said Rishi Kant, member, Shakti Vahini, an NGO working in the field of child rights.
While the union home ministry (MHA) has started Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTU) in 225 districts in the country, training and sensitisation of the police is yet to be completed.
“While the AHTUs have been instrumental in rescuing a large number of children, the network needs to be expanded. We have already held a number of training sessions for police personnel to sensitise them. We need to get the message out that the trafficked women are not the culprits. They are, rather, the victims of circumstances,” said Praveen Kumari Singh, director (SR), MHA. The non-implementation of the provisions of the Integrated Child Protection System (ICPS), which talks about identifying vulnerable families and supporting them, is also adding to the woes.
“ICPS can ensure that a lot of poor families and their children don’t have to migrate but its non-implementation remains a big drawback,” Prasad added.
SHE STILL HOPES TO MEET HER DAUGHTER
Mallica Joshi in Hindustan Times
Rupa Devi will never forget the cold January afternoon seven years ago when she came home to find her daughter missing. The 13-year-old had not returned home from school and no one had seen her. It was only a week later that she found that her real sister had taken her daughter to Delhi to work as Domestic Maid. ”She told her that she could buy jeans and beautiful ear rings with her own money in Delhi. She lured her with promises of movies and money. My daughter was just 13,” she says.
Rupa Devi is one of the few mothers in Gumla who did not send her daughter to Delhi voluntarily. She has no idea where her daughter is, even after all these years. For parents whose daughters have been trafficked without their knowledge, tracking their children is a near impossible task.Rupa Devi should know. She has been trying to track her daughter for the past seven years without any luck. Her sister, the trafficker, is long dead leaving no clue behind of where her daughter could be.
“Somewhere deep down, however, I know I have lost her. How much would she have changed in these seven years? Even if she comes and stands in front of me, I may not be able to recognize her.”What most parents like Rupa Devi don’t do is go to the police or the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) with their complaints.”People don’t trust the police at all and accuse it of extorting money to file an FIR. People are afraid to talk to the authorities,” said Tribhuvan Sharma, member, CWC, Gumla.
Easy Pickings have no source of sustenance
Deepak Kumar, a trafficker arrested by the Haryana Police from Faridabad in May, spoke to the Hindustan Times and explained the how children are trafficked. While he refuses to confess that he was involved in the trafficking of minors, the police found 11 children — six girls and five boys — stuffed in one room in his house, sleeping on the floor.
Trafficking girls from Jharkhand makes good business sense. The parents are pliable and the girls unfussy. It is their simple nature and inability to create trouble that keeps children from this region in such high demand. A trafficker should always be well known to the family from which he is planning to traffic a child. He or she has to be someone who the family knows and can trust; someone from their own village and preferably related to them.
It is not just poverty alone that pushes parents towards sending their children to Delhi or other big cities to work. If that were the case, whole families would migrate. Over and above poverty, there is a simple lack of job in the villages of Jharkhand. Farming has been largely unsuccessful and there is no other work to do.
We go to the villages and tell people how they can earn more money by simply sending their daughters away. The girls are hard working and easily take to the idea of building a life for themselves away from home. When I started, I was a simple trafficker but I realised that it was much more profitable to start a placement agency. Now, the girls who I bring to Delhi undergo a week-long training in housework. Most agencies do not do this and simply place girls at homes.
For all the girls I bring to Delhi, I pay their parents Rs. 2,000 initially. I send half of their wages to the parents while the girls keep the remaining money. I, however, know of many others in the business who keep all the money and don’t give a penny to either the girl or her family. More than 90% of the children trafficked are girls. Orphans, children of single parents and those whose parents have re-married are at the highest risk and least likely to be found as nobody comes looking for them. I had come to Delhi 12 years ago to help a friend recover some money from a factory owner. The placement agency business had just started to boom and I decided to join in.
Two minor girls rescued from Old Delhi station
Two minor girls rescued from Old Delhi station
Two minor girls, trafficked from West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district by agents of a placement agency for engaging them as domestic helps in Delhi, were rescued by the crime branch of Delhi Police on Sunday morning. The girls were rescued from Old Delhi railway station after they arrived there by Mahananda Express with four persons who had brought them to Delhi on the pretext of providing good job.
A placement agency owner and his four agents, including two women, were also arrested by the police for allegedly trafficking the minor girls.
The arrested persons have been identified as Ravi Soren, the owner of the placement agency who runs the business from his office in north Delhi’s Shakurpur, and his agents-Satyam, Kiran Chetri, Maini Chetri and Laxmi.
All the four agents hail from Jalpaiguri and were working for Soren, said a senior police officer.
Sanjay Kumar Jain, DCP (crime and railways), said the minor girls were rescued following a tip-off provided by the members of Shakti Vahini, an NGO actively involved in the rescue of trafficked children.
“They informed us that some minor girls from Jalpaiguri are being brought to Delhi. A raid was conducted and two minor girls were rescued from the Old Delhi railway station. We also arrested four persons who brought the girls to Delhi,” said Jain.
During interrogation, the DCP said, the accused revealed that the rescued girls were to be handed over to a placement agency owner.
“At their instance, we arrested Ravi Soren, the placement agency owner. We are questioning the accused to find out how many other minor girls were trafficked to Delhi by them,” added Jain.
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Magistrate orders closure of G. B. Road brothel
WE WELCOME THE ORDER OF THE MAGISTRATE. PROACTIVE ACTIONS LIKE THIS WILL BRING THE FEAR OF THE LAW AND HELP IN COMBATING ORGANIZED CRIME
SHAKTI VAHINI EFFORTS TO FIGHT TRAFFICKING FOR PROSTITUTION
Teen mother freed from brothel
Two minors from Bengal rescued from fresh trade
17 minors rescued from Delhi brothels
A trafficked woman’s story of indomitable courage
3 Jharkhand, Bengal girls rescued
Pushed into flesh trade in Delhi, a woman’s journey back home in Bengal
In an order passed on Saturday, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Paharganj has directed the closure and eviction of the occupants of the first floor of a kotha on G. B. Road which was being used as a brothel. The SDM said in his order that the brothel was within 200 metres of a school and that the owner of the building should get prior permission from him before leasing out the premises for the next three years.
Acting on an application moved by the Kamla Market SHO under Section 18 of the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act, Paharganj SDM Mani Bhushn Malhotra said: “From the perusal of application of SHO Kamla Market and document attached it is clear that the circumstances in which the girls were apprehended / rescued from this premises clearly indicate that the said premises being repeatedly used for the purposes identical to those given in Section 2 (a) of the ITP Act. The averment cited by SHO Kamla Market that this premises is being used as brothel is further strengthened with the fact that minor girls lured from other States have been coerced into prostitution and rescued from this premises.”
[Section 2(a) of the ITP Act defines brothel as any house, room, conveyance or place, or any portion of any house, room, conveyance or place, which is used for purposes of sexual exploitation or abuse for the gain of another person or for the mutual gain of two or more prostitutes.]
Pramod Joshi, the SHO, said in his application that four FIRs were registered against these premises under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for rape, kidnapping, wrongful confinement, assault, buying and selling of minors for prosecution besides various sections of the ITP Act.The brothel owner, who was also the lessee of the premises, raised several objections to the SHO’s application. She said she was a resident of the second floor of the building and had nothing to do with the premises in question; that she was acquitted in one of the cases and charge sheets were not filed in the others cases; that the police had not clarified the exact distance between the public place (school) and the building; and that there was “no live and proximate link between the prejudicial activity and preventive action” being sought.
Mr. Malhotra in his order said the brothel owner, Baby, had appeared in a Tis Hazari Sessions court in response to summons served on her at the first floor address, and that she was acquitted in the case merely on the technical ground that summons issued for the victim in the case and prosecution witnesses went unserved.
The SDM also noted that an FIR was registered as recently as this year for rape, kidnapping and prostitution charges which warranted “preventive measures immediately to stop the reoccurrence of such activities”. Regarding the SHO not invoking the 200 metre contention in his application, the SDM allowed the statement made later by the SHO that this was a case and there was a school in the proximity.
Cops Must Curb Honour Killings: Advocates to SC
Two noted advocates, appointed by the Supreme Court to assist it in tackling the malady of “honour killings” of young couples by ‘khap’ panchayats, has recommended a proactive role for the police and district magistrates to curb it. The key recommendation forms part of the guidelines, formulated by senior counsel Raju Ramachandran and counsel Gaurav Agrawal, apopointed by the apex court as amicus curiae to help it, to tackle the recurring social evil, often rearing its ugly head in the northern states. The two counsel has urged a bench of justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai to convert the guidelines into its directions to all states and Union territories until Parliament enacts a law on the issue. According to the guidelines, the police should play proactive role to thwart the khap (community) panchayat’s illegal diktat by providing timely help to the potential victims.
“Section 149 to 151 of the CrPC lay down the duties and powers of the police to prevent the commission of cognisable offences. The police has been empowered to arrest a person, even without a warrant, if the police officer knows of a design to commit any cognisable offence.
“In cases of Khap Panchayat, it is very necessary for the police to take timely steps so as to prevent any physical harm to the couple. Any gathering, which instigates commission of an illegal act, is an illegal gathering. It amounts to instigation to commit a crime, which may result in death of an individual.
“The State / police officials have to take preventive action / remedial action to ensure that the Fundamental Rights are protected, for which adequate powers are available in CrPC. The need is to effectively exercise those powers by the state officials,” it said.
The apex court had earlier appointed the amicus curiae while adjudicating a petition filed by NGO Shakti Vahini, which highlighted the growing phenomenon of “honour killings” and other human rights violations by extra-constitutional bodies like as khap panchayats. The report by advocates said the state governments should be directed to immediately identify districts, sub-divisions and villages which have had instances of honour killing and/ or assembly of khap panchayat in the past one year.
“The officer-in-charge of the police stations of the areas so identified should be issued directions by the district’s superintendent of police (SP) to immediately report to him if there is any instance of inter-caste marriage which comes to the notice of the local police and / or if there is any attempt by the villagers/ community to hold a khap panchayat.
“It would be the duty of the SP, as also of the district magistrate, to ensure the safety of the couple by taking such steps as may be required including, but not limited to, providing a safe house, police protection etc.
“It would be open to the SP/DM to take help of non-governmental organisations as notified by the state government,” the report said.
It said the officer in-charge/ SP may be advised to meet the self-styled decision makers of khap panchayat and reason with them that such a meeting/gathering should not be held as it is an illegal gathering and that if any decision is proposed to be taken then the police would be bound to arrest the members of khap panchayat.
“If the members of khap panchayat still plan to hold a gathering, which may cause reasonable apprehension of harm to the couple, the SP would be duty-bound to cause arrest of the members of the khap panchayat. “The Central government and the state governments as well as the National Legal Services Authority may be directed to conduct awareness programmes about the legal rights of individuals with regard to matrimonial choices,” the report added.
Court Asks Govt to Probe Into CWC Functioning
The functioning of Child Welfare Committee (CWC) has come under the scrutiny of a Delhi court which directed the city government to look into the allegation as to how the committee had released the minor girls, who were victims of human trafficking, to their relatives. The court’s order came in a case pertaining to the raids conducted by the Crime Branch of the Delhi police and an NGO at various placement agencies here last year from where many girls, including minors, were recovered and their custody was handed over to the CWC. The NGO ‘Shakti Vahini’ had recently told the court that the girls have been released by the CWC without its consultation and the victims have again been pushed to work as maids, while one of the girls has also been raped by a placement agency official.
”As an immediate measure, I hereby direct that a copy of the application along with its annexure placed before this court, be forwarded to the director of Department of Women and Child Development and also to the secretary, Social Welfare Department, GNCT, Delhi, who will look into the allegations involved and shall inform this court with regard to the remedial measures taken at their ends,” Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Kamini Lau said. The court also said as per available records, the issue raised by the NGO appears to be genuine and it cannot be ignored due to the seriousness of the matter.
”Prima facie, the grievances of the NGO (Shakti Vahini) appears to be genuine and it is writ large that the rescued children are being again pushed back into placement at various places through other agencies.”The entire purpose of the rescue and rehabilitation as contemplated under the act appears to be defeated,” it said. During the hearing, NGO Director Subir Roy and one of its official Rishi Kant, had said they were aggrieved with the CWC’s decision which refused to provide any restoration information about the rescued girls and due to lack of details, they were finding it difficult in tracing the children.
The NGO had also apprised the court that many of the children rescued by them were given by the CWC to their relatives who have again pushed them back to the same work.”Some of those girls have not been found till date on account of which we are unable to provide any help to victims so that they could depose before the court,” the NGO said.Out of the rescued girls so far, only four have appeared before the court to record their testimonies after several reminders to the CWC.
The court noted that a minor, who was earlier rescued, is again back to work through another placement agency and in the last hearing, she was brought to the court by her employers.”How the minor witness, who at the time of recovery, had disclosed her address as that of Bangladesh was released to some relative rather than being handed over to the FRRO for deportation?,” the court asked the CWC.It also said due coordination with the NGO in terms of the provisions of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act should be ensured for rehabilitation of rescued children and they should also be produced in the court at the time of recording of witnesses statements.
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Girl rescued from brothel returns from Bengal to depose before court
Girl rescued from brothel returns from Bengal to depose before court
Almost two years after being rescued from a red-light area of the Capital, where she was sold to a brothel owner by human traffickers, a minor girl has travelled all the way back from West Bengal to seek justice for the physical and mental torture she was subjected to. Unlike a large number of human trafficking victims, who after being rescued go missing, the girl has come back to depose before a city court as a witness, hoping to see the culprits behind bars.
Vishakha (name changed) also plans to move a public interest litigation in the Supreme Court seeking directions for making mandatory the examination of all the victims like her through video-conferencing, so that they are not made to come in person from far off places to testify in court. “The victim will also approach the apex court for compensation to all victims of sex trafficking. As of now, there is no detailed guideline for compensation in such cases,” said her lawyer Ravi Kant.
The girl who was kidnapped from South 24 Parganas is still living under the threat of being targeted by her kidnappers. “A few days ago, they pelted stones at my house late at night to scare us. My father then lodged a complaint with the local police seeking action against them. They have been regularly issuing threats to me and my family. We are constantly living in terror, because of which I seldom venture out and am unable to even resume my studies. In fact, we have put a photograph of the lady police inspector, who had rescued me, in our house to ward off the traffickers,” said Vishakha.
It was in July 2010 that Vishakha was kidnapped by two acquaintances of one of her friends. “I went out along with my friend to a fair, where two young men joined us. We then went to her residence, where I was kept in confinement and the next day I was forced to board a Delhi-bound train at the Howrah railway station. They took me to the red-light area and handed me over to a woman, who tortured me physically when I refused to comply with her demands,” she alleged. The girl was then raped several times.
Vishakha’s plight only came to light after she narrated her woes to a client requesting him to contact her family. “He informed my parents regarding my whereabouts, following which they contacted the Kamla Market police station,” said the victim. Back home, her parents had already got an abduction case registered.
“The area Station House Officer immediately formed a team and rescued the girl. The brothel owner and another female accused were subsequently arrested. While both the accused are now out on bail, the male accused still remains at large,” said a representative of non-government organisation Shakti Vahini, which was also involved in the operation.
Recounting the harrowing experience, the girl said soon after being rescued from “hell”, she landed up at a shelter home where she was ill-treated by the staff. “A woman officer would scold me often without reason. Apparently they did not have enough plates, because of which three or four of us had to eat in the same plate. We were made to cook food ourselves; the rice provided to us was all rotten and there was not enough water for the inmates,” she alleged.
“In most cases, after a brief stay at shelter homes, the victims are sent back to their family without any State support and they are left on their own to suffer. Most States have no rehabilitation and compensation scheme in place and many victims, a large number of them minors, who have suffered grave fundamental rights violations are left on their own,” said Mr. Kant.
Incidentally, in reply to a question raised by Rajya Sabha MP Upendra Kushwaha, the Union Home Ministry on Wednesday informed that seven girls had been rescued from the red-light area of G.B. Road and eight persons arrested in 2010, 26 victims rescued and 16 arrested in 2011 and 15 girls rescued and four accused arrested so far this year.
Plans to move a PIL for making the examination of all the victims like her through video conferencing mandatory
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State in a fix: Who to hand over children to?
State in a fix: Who to hand over children to?
Even as investigations are on into the modus operandi of Superna Sethi, who ran the now shut Gurgaon shelter home where minors were sexually abused for over a year, the district administration today faced an altogether new challenge. “Who should the children be handed over to?” was the question that baffled the state government authorities, which met here today to discuss the way forward for around 19 girls that resided in the shelter home in Wazirabad.
After reports of exploitation of children came out, parents of at least five girls turned up at the meeting called by Gurgaon’s Deputy Commissioner today to seek custody of their children. None of them however had the proof that children belonged to them.
“Unless we know for a fact that the child being pointed to is the biological child of the parent concerned, we can’t hand him or her over to that parent. We have ordered a full fledged home verification of each child to ensure they don’t land in unsafe hands,” the district authorities told The Tribune. The social activists who are part of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights team probing the case today said the predicament was strange and unheard of.
“This is what happens when you allow systems to run without any modicum of monitoring. The owner of the shelter home was housing children in an ad hoc manner. She has no proof of which child belongs to whom. Tomorrow if children were to go missing from this place, there would be no accountability of anyone. Parents who came today were returned because they could not furnish any proof of the children belonging to them. In the absence of proof, the state is obliged to keep the children,” said Rishi Kant of Shakti Vahini.
The children have now been housed in another Gurgaon shelter home called ‘Aarushi’ run by the Salam Balak Trust.
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