The main focus of EMPOWER PEOPLE lies on awareness raising and sensitization trainings for law enforcement agencies. The organization is also offering direct victim support and assistance to women vulnerable to human trafficking and domestic violence.CHENNAI: Though Chennai city policemen often boast of cracking the whip on pimps and flesh traders and filing several cases against them, the conviction rate remains abysmal. For instance, in 2009, the conviction rate of pimps was less than 40%, while in 2010, rate had halved to around 20%.
This year, the rate has been a little above 10% for the first three months. In 2009 and 2010, some 74 and 98 cases, respectively, were acquitted by various magistrate courts in the city.
A first conviction under Section 3 (1) of Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 carries two to three years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000. Second conviction may bring imprisonment of three to seven years and a fine of Rs 2 lakh.
The police say that the main reason for the poor rate of conviction is that the girls "rescued" from pimps do not testify at trials. "Most of the girls are from other states, and so they leave the city with their parents or relatives within one month and we are unable to trace them," says a police officer.
The AVS team has also been short staffed, and police say that is one reason for fewer convictions. Out of the sanctioned 21 police personnel, the city AVS has only 12 police personnel including an inspector and a sub-inspector. "Due to the shortage, it is often difficult for us to assign a policeman to track a particular girl, who normally would not be available at her home town. If we failed to produce the victim girl involved in a case, then the case will automatically go for acquittal," a senior police officer said.
The officer explains the typical sequence of events. The Anti Vice Squad (AVS) will raid a brothel by engaging a decoy. The pimps, who run the racket, will be arrested, while the girls engaged in the trade will be treated as victims, produced before the magistrate court and sent to the government home in Mylapore.
It often takes many months for cases to come up for hearing. But typically the relatives or the parents will show up demanding that the girls be released.
There's a procedure to get this done, which includes having an NGO verify the identity of the relatives. But the procedure is not complicated, and, in most cases, the girls leave. "Many girls are from other states; mostly from Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Maharastra and Delhi. Once the victims reach their home town, they are again lured by the pimps into going to other states," a police officer said.
The police say that many of the girls are unwilling to testify before courts. "Gone are the days when prostitution mostly meant minor girls, slavery and victimization. These days many of the girls are willing accomplices in the flesh trade and do not really want to testify." TOI
Posted in: The Report
