Group claims Delhi becoming a hub for human trafficking

Criminals involved in human trafficking are thriving in the city. They traffic girls and women from eastern India and sell them as domestic help through different placement agencies after getting them gangraped, according to data revealed by a charity.

Shakti Vahini has released data about trafficking of females recently rescued from the clutches of traffickers. In one such case, 16-year-old Pratibha (name changed), who was trafficked from Jamshedpur along with her younger sister, was forced to get married to a 25-year-old man, Ajay, in Haryana. The man had already married thrice and her younger sister was allegedly sold in Haryana. The traffickers also snatched a cell phone that she was carrying and burnt her notebook containing the details of her relatives and friends.

Rishi Kant, of NGO Shakti Vahini, said the younger sister somehow managed to flee from the clutches of her abductors and reached the police and lodged a complaint.

Pratibha was sold to an agency in Haryana’s Rewari district as domestic help. The Jamshedpur police informed Shakti Vahini and its team with help of the Rewari police rescued Pratibha. “I wanted to live a happy life after I got married but I was raped by unknown men and my husband and then I was sold to work at houses in Haryana where I was beaten up every day over petty issues,” said a scared Pratibha.

“Pratibha had a fake marriage and was then taken to Rewari. Minor girls from Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Assam and West Bengal are frequently trafficked through an organised crime chain which needs to be broken,” said Mr Kant, adding that Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao programme should be prioritised and inter-state cooperation should be efficient for swifter action against the traffickers.

A 12-year-old domestic help on Wednesday managed to escape from her employers’ residence in East Delhi. Revealing her ordeal to the Gurgaon police, the girl said that she was kidnapped from Jharkhand five years ago and was pushed into the trade of human trafficking and was sold to a domestic workers’ agency where she was physically tortured and sexually abused.

Meena, a notorious child trafficker in Delhi, who heads several fake placement agencies in Rohini, G.B. Road and Jahangirpuri, got the girl gangraped and then sold her to different agencies in Delhi and outside as domestic help.

“Before we rescued Rekha, we had also rescued another nine-year-old girl who was similarly tortured from Anand Vihar ISBT Station. The girl was scared and asked whether she would return back home or would be sent back to the agency,” said Shankuntala Dhull, director of child welfare committee, Gurgaon.