Loot and scoot bride racket continues to flourish

BHIWANI: As vulnerable Haryana youths continue to be taken in by 'loot-and-scoot' brides, the government authorities are considering keeping a record of brides being brought to the state from other states. This would help the police to keep a tab on unscrupulous brides as well as to track gangs involved in human trafficking to protect innocent women and girls hailing from other states.

According to reports, gangs involved in forcibly bringing girls as well as bands of cheat brides have been flourishing in Haryana, which has a wide gap between men in the marriageable age vis-a-vis women due to low sex ratio.

In a recent incident, a 35-year-old man Kailash Kumar of Kungar village in Bhiwani district was lured by a woman who married him and then decamped with cash and jewellery from his home soon after marriage. Kailash, a daily wager, has lodged a complaint with the police in this regard. His wife Meena Devi, from Katkarkila village in Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh is untraceable. Kailash told the TOI on Wednesday that after failing to find a bride for himself in Haryana, he started looking for a match in other states by asking people known to him to find a bride for him. A person from Bhiwani approached him with an offer of marriage and the wedding was solemnized on January 30.

"All was going smoothly till I found my wife missing from our room on Monday night at about 3am. I looked for her in our house and later, I launched a hunt to trace her in the village along with my family members. We inquired about the middleman involved in the marriage too but he too couldn't be traced. We later found that Meena had taken Rs 45,000 and some jewellery with her before fleeing", Kailash said. The Bawani Khera SHO Dharamchand Yadav said they had no clues about the whereabouts of the bride so far.

According to police sources around 15 such incidents were reported from across the state last year and these brides have not been traced so far. "These women in fact seem to be part of a racket wherein gangs lured gullible males from the state who have crossed the marriageable age but still wanted to settle down in life," said a police source.

Additional director general of police (ADGP) B S Sandhu told TOI that in view of repeated reports of human trafficking, besides cases of loot-and-scoot brides coming to light, the police was considering taking some measures. "We have a proposal to keep a record of brides hailing from other states at the local police stations concerned across the state. It will help the police to deal with complaints related to them," he said, while adding that a decision is likely to be taken in a couple of days.

Jaswanti, a woman activist who runs a shelter home for destitute women and children in Rohtak maintained that apart from loot-and-scoot brides, the incidents of trafficking of girlsincluding minors were quite glaring. "If the police and the district authorities with the help of local panchayat keep track of brides coming from outside the state, it will also help in checking incidence of trafficking," she said. TOI

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Falak tragedy: A tale of Bride trafficking

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Human (bride) trafficking a thriving business in Rajasthan

JAIPUR/ALWAR: Munni Devi, the woman who was picked up by the Delhi police from Rajasthan for abandoning a two-year-old battered baby, who is admitted to AIIMS Trauma Centre, was staying in a village in Jhunjhunu district for nearly three months. She was sold off to a man here for Rs 2.5 lakh by a human trafficking gang.

Munni Devi is not an isolated case of girls being sold in the area. The two key suspects in the battered baby case- Rajkumar and Kanta Bai - have a case registered against them with the MIA police station in Alwar district.

"The case was registered in August 2010 in which both had been accused of selling a girl to someone," said a senior police officer. source

"On August 16, one Ali Akbar from West Bengal had approached the then Alwar SP Alok Vashishta claiming that he had married off his daughter Shayara to one Anees, a resident of Mia police station area in Alwar. Over a period of three years, the girl was sold to four different people. Anees first sold her to one Vikki who further sold her to Kanta Bai. The woman then sold her to Rajkumar and finally Shayara was bought by one Jagmohan. The police recovered the girl from Jagmohan," the officer said. Shayara was later produced in a court and then handed over to her father.

Rajkumar and Kanta Bai are registered as husband and wife in the complaint. While Rajkumar was arrested by the police and later released on bail, Kanta Bai had got an anticipatory bail.

Such gangs are active in Rajasthan, Haryana, and Delhi. Most of these girls belong to Orissa, West Bengal, Bihar and Assam from where these gangs abduct or buy them from their parents. They are either forced into prostitution or made to marry an older man.

Several first information reports (FIR) have been registered with the police across the state which point at the thriving business of selling girls for money.

In Alwar district alone, at least six cases of girls being sold had come up in 2010. Add to that, several cases that go unreported everyday.

"The masterminds behind these gangs are mostly residents of Mewat region in Rajasthan which includes Alwar district. In some recent cases, those involved in the racket have turned out to be drivers. Parents sell their girls in Orissa, West Bengal, Bihar and Assam for Rs 20,000 to Rs 50000. Then, they are brought to Rajasthan and other states including Haryana and Delhi," a senior police officer said.

The gang members marry the girls, rape them and then after some time sell them off to a buyer at a higher price.

"In some cases, it has been found that the owners of dhabas and hotel owners situated on the Jaipur-Delhi national highway play the role of mediators in selling the girls to the third party," the officer added.

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Bride-buying an old practice in north India

Bride-buying is an old practice in this region. It declined after the Green Revolution owing to the spread of literacy in this part of the country. Moreover, the male-female ratio has improved in the past 80 years. The ratio was highly skewed in 1911.

Before Partition there used to be Jind House at some distance from the railway station at Ambala. Adjacent to it was an “adda” where women were offered for sale after sunset. People from various parts of this region, especially the Malwa belt, used to flock to the “adda” to buy women or say “brides”.

Dehra Dun was another centre where poor women were offered for sale. Besides, there was sale of women in certain parts of Orissa from where people of this region used to buy brides.

Contrary to general impression and reports of female foeticide etc, the male-female ratio has been constantly improving in Punjab since 1911 when there were only 780 women against 1,000 men. From 799 in 1921, the number of women against 1,000 men jumped to 882 in 1991. However, it declined to 874 in 2001.

Bride-buying has been confined to either poor farmers or the Scheduled Castes and tribes.

Mr Sarwan Singh Bir, a historian from the Malwa region, says he visited the Ambala “adda” a few months before Partition along with a friend, Mr Kunda Singh from Katarsingh Wala village, to have first-hand information. A woman then was available for Rs 600 to Rs 1200 at the Ambala “adda”. Some agents, in fact, used to cheat poor farmers as they would replace younger girls with older women after striking deals.

However, Mr Kirpal Kazak, a Punjabi writer, says the practice of sale of women started in this region after the arrival of Mughals. Mr Mir Dad, an Arab writer, has stated about the sale of women in his book “Niami”.

Mr Kazak says during the Mughal period only women offered for sale, used to don ornaments. Ornaments were used to decorate women before sale. The wearing of ornaments became a fashion in due course of time.

Punjabi literature is replete with references of sale of women. There is a full-fledged Punjabi book “Mul di Tiveen” (A purchased woman). Then, there is Punjabi mini novel “Kudesan” (a woman from other land) dealing with this subject. Dalip Kaur Tiwana, a celebrated Punjabi Writer, devotes a chapter to the sale of “Bhano” to Sarwan in her Sahit Akademi award-winning Punjabi novel “Eh Hamara Jeewna”. Bhano revolts against polygamy, which was prevalent at that time in certain parts of the Malwa region. Money was contributed by Sarwan and his brothers to buy Bhano. However, Bhano refused to be the wife to all brothers, saying that she had been married to Sarwan and would stay only with him. Ultimately, Sarwan was killed by his brothers.

Dalip Kaur Tiwana says the ritual of bride-buying was limited to the poor sections of society.

Mr Bhupinder Singh, Head of the Sociology Department at Punjabi University, says that in poor families, only one son used to be married. Besides poverty, the other reason to get only one son married was to avoid the division of landed property. Mr Ajmer Aulakh, a playwright, has extensively dealt with this issue in his play — “Ik Hor Ramayan.”

One can find even now in almost every Punjab village women from Burma or China. Certain Punjabi soldiers, who fought World War I and World War II in Burma brought women of Burmese or Chinese origin when they came back to their villages. As they had to stay for long in Burma, Singapore and Malaya etc, they married these women. Punjabis marry off their daughters to boys, who either have landed property or other sources of income. They rarely give their daughters to “loafers” who, as a result, resort to bride-buying.

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Northeast girls being trafficked to Haryana for marriage

NEW DELHI: A large number of girls from the northeast are being regularly trafficked and forced to enter into wedlock in Haryana, the home ministry has found. Law enforcement agencies have found many such instances, specifically in Hissar district of the state.

A definite trend was noted by the home ministry which on Wednesday reviewed measures being taken by different states to combat human trafficking which takes the dimension of organized crime in the country.

It was also noted during the day-long meeting that girls from Nepal, Bangladesh and different parts of the country were often trafficked to metropolitan cities. While most of them ended up in brothels, the remaining were used by traffickers as child labourers, organ transplant donors and camel jockeys.

"We have recovered many girls from Hissar in Haryana. All of them were forcibly married after being trafficked," Assam superintendent of police Violet Baruah said after a meeting of state anti-trafficking cell officers here.

Baruah said the issue has been a major concern for Assam and such crimes have been taking place very often and happening due to the dismal sex ratio in Haryana.

Additional secretary in the home ministry B Bhamathi, who chaired the review meeting, said, "It is a major concern for us. With a view to tackling the menace of human trafficking, the ministry has undertaken a number of measures that include setting up of an anti-trafficking nodal cell to act as a focal point for communicating various decisions and follow up on action taken by the state governments."

Bhamathi said the home ministry had sanctioned a comprehensive scheme against trafficking in human beings through training and capacity building.

"It is proposed to establish 330 anti-human trafficking units (AHTUs) throughout the country and impart training to 10,000 police officers through training of trainers component," she said.

The ministry has already released Rs 8.72 crore to all states as first installment for 2010-11 for setting up 115 AHTUs. All states have received funds and 101 AHTUs are functional. Funds for 2011-12 have also been released to the state governments for establishment of 110 AHTUs.

A project on strengthening law enforcement response in India against trafficking in human beings was taken up in the home ministry as a joint initiative of the government of India and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in select states.

"The joint project has contributed towards developing of 12 very important resource books about protocols and standard operating procedures and in setting up of AHTUs," Bhamathi said.

TOI

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Bride trafficking in Kashmir

Srinagar, Jan 17 (ANI): Watching the marriage preparations of her elder sister in a surreal daze, Mansoora Bano couldn't believe the sight of her beautifully decorated house which, till two days ago, was a mute spectator to the family's battle of existence in a small village of Hugli, West Bengal.

Her father, with his meager earnings, was surrounded by worries of feeding his two daughters and a son with faint hopes of getting them married. Just when they were beginning to lose hope, a middle-aged man had walked into their house accompanied by a local man and offered a proposal of marriage to the stranger.

The stranger hailed from Sholra Village of Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district. He not only offered to bear the entire expenses of the marriage but also offered a sum of Rs 20,000. Her father had agreed promptly, with a sigh of relief.

Four years later, the stranger was back before the impoverished family, this time offering to marry Mansoora herself.

In the Kashmir Valley, there are several cases where poor, physically disabled and unemployed men, facing rejection within their own community for marriage, purchase women from different parts of India - particularly from Bihar and West Bengal, through established brokers. This dreadful business is booming in the state of J and K, despite the existence of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956.

In October 2011, a case of one Rehana (name changed), who had been trafficked from her home in Bihar to Kashmir, was reported in the Court of Chadoora in Budgam District in central Kashmir.

Rehana was a divorcee who lived in Bihar with her young son. Salman Rashid (name changed) had come to their village along with a broker who ran a thriving business of 'arranging' women for Kashmiri men. He baited Rehana's family, offering to marry her to Salman (who was 10 years older to her), promising that Salman not only will marry her but would adopt her child as well. What argument could Rehana give herself for not marrying Salman?

Salman paid a 'mehar' of Rs 800 to Rehana and brought her to his village in the Kashmir Valley. A year later, despite his earlier commitment, he started pressurizing her to send the child back to Bihar. However, Rehana put her foot down and refused to obey him.

Furious Salman started beating her and deprived her off almost everything including food and clothing. The matter reached the court and after several rounds of allegations, the couple agreed to be separated. It is believed that Rehana was bought by some other local broker Javed (name changed) against a sum of Rs 25,000 and it was Javed who convinced Salman to divorce her by bribing him with Rs. 800. Rashid was only too happy to earn some fast cash.

According to a renowned Lawyer and Social Activist, Abdul Rashid Hanjoora, "In the past decade, there has been an upsurge in the cases of human trafficking that has grown to an extent that it is now the third largest form of transnational organised crime following firearms and drugs. The scale of commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking is steadily rising despite the existence of the required act - Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956. Victims of trafficking are exploited and tortured for the financial gains of the exploiters."

The victims fight not a person but a society. Most of these women are grappling with adjustment issues and have to deal with differences in language, climate, food, living habits, culture and societal norms. Although the decision of buying a woman from a different state is taken in accord with the entire family, the in-laws often do not accept her as a part of the family and discriminate her for being a Non-Kashmiri.

Being poor is not the only hurdle. Many cases go unreported, as these illiterate women are unaware of their rights. This inhibits them from taking a step forward and getting the matter registered.

"During my visit to Iskandarpora of Beerwah, in District Budgam, I was surprised to spot several women from Bengal who were married to Kashmiri men. These women complained of domestic and sexual violence," said Hanjoora.

When asked what made them willingly fall into the trap, their answer was "Money". One can find many women living with these Kashmiri men without even being married. The law becomes helpless when these couples say that they have performed Nikah - they use Nikah as their shield.

In order to stop further exploitation, some extra efforts are required to be invested by the government and non-government organisations. Women Right Commission, NGOs and Police need to come forward. Besides keeping an eye on these couples, they should monitor their activities. Members of Panchayat can become a powerful resource to check women trafficking as most of the cases take place in rural areas - Beerwah, Kupwara, Chaoora are worst affected.

Hanjoora suggests that the best method of curbing this social evil is to combine such ideas with prosecution and protection. Prosecution includes several tasks like the identification of the traffickers, bringing them to book; and confiscating their illegal assets. Protection of the trafficked victim includes all steps towards the redressal of their grievances thus helping the victim survive, rehabilitate and live a life of dignity. Thus prosecution and protection contribute to prevention.

Needless to say, political will is an essential requirement to combat trafficking. Legal awareness plays a crucial role in any social action programme. In its absence any real social activism cannot be promoted as it empowers people by making them aware of their rights, and motivates them to develop zero tolerance towards abuse and exploitation.

The history of the state of J and K is so complex that no issues other than those related to the political situation register their presence in the media and consciousness of the people, both within Kashmir and outside. Issues like trafficking; domestic violence and sexual exploitation are low visibility, low priority matters.

We respect unity in diversity but what is the point when we force the diversity to unite - if a Kashmiri man would have married a woman from Bihar or Bengal in the backdrop of love, it would have been an inspiring example to the world.

The Charkha Development Communication network feels that today it is simply a national shame. (with inputs from Basheer Ahmed Peer) y Zeenat Zeeshan Fazil (ANI)

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Maid racket busted in Yamunanagar

YAMUNANAGAR : The district police on Sunday arrested two persons working in a Delhi-based company involved in providing the domestic help, on the charges of human trafficking after a 15-year-old girl from Assam was rescued by district women and a child supporting unit.

With this, a racket of trafficking girls from other states on the pretext of getting them employed in the households has been unearthed in the district, claimed police officials.

Inquiries revealed that all this came to light on Saturday evening when the victim was brought there to Bal Bhawan after she managed to give a family of Sector 17 here a slip. Family had allegedly bought the girl from a Delhi-based agency.

Identified as Sanjay and Karan claiming to be working with Ganesh and Maid and Servant Services Agency Delhi, were rounded up when they had come to take away the girl from Bal Bhawan. The agency, has however denied any link with the accused as well as the girl.

Inspector Ram Kumar, SHO, city police station said, "We have taken the youths in police custody after district child welfare officer Manisha Khana reported the matter to us. Both of them confessed to have brought the victim from Assam and sold her to Sector 17 resident family. Further investigations are in progress and we are trying to ascertain other places from where the two have provided girls. Prime facie it appears to be a racket of selling girls as house maids. Interrogation is going on and we hope we will soon reach to the roots of the racket.''

Meanwhile, when contacted Manisha Khanna confirmed that the victim was a bonded labourer with Sector 17 family and had managed to escape from their custody on Saturday night. A social worker noticed her and brought her to the Bal Bhawan, she said. source TOI

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Field interviews on bride trafficking (audio) hindi

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A Deserted Bride Trafficking Victim 1

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Human Trafficking: RPF detains 5 minor girls

BHUBANESWAR: Suspecting human trafficking, five minor girls from Bhadrak were rescued by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) of Bhubaneswar station on Tuesday.� The RPF swung into action after receiving a call about the five minor girls travelling in Baripada-Bhubaneswar Intercity accompanied by a boy. Inspector in-Charge Varun Behera with a team reached platform no.4 to inspect the train and found five girls, aged between 12 and 17, and an 18-year-old boy.
�When the five failed to give a satisfactory reason for their travel, police detained them. During questioning it was found that a man, Babu Rout,� from an area under Tihidi police limits of Bhadrak district was allegedly sending them to Madurai, Tamil Nadu, to work in a nut and bolt factory. They were told that they would be paid ` 4,500 a month. Dissatisfied with the reasoning, the girls were cross-examined further during which one of the them protested their detention.
�According to Behera, the girls had no clue as to where they were going and what kind of work they would be given. It was the boy accompanying them who was answering all the questions on their behalf. It was later found that the middleman accompanying them had escaped on seeing the police officials. The police have informed the parents, who were unaware of the entire thing. “We suspect a sex racket as it was not usual for the girls to be working in a labour- intensive factory. We will get to more only after questioning their parents, who have been called,” said Behera.

Source

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Teen sold off, held captive in Bihar

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Eight minors rescued, trafficking racket busted

Chandigarh The Chandigarh Police today claimed to have busted a human trafficking racket and rescued eight minors including two girls who had been brought from West Bengal and forced to work as domestic helps at homes and dhabas.
The police have arrested two accused identified as Janak Raj and Mithun, both natives of West Bengal presently staying in Kishangarh. The police have booked the accused for habitually dealing in slaves, A case has been registered against the accused at the Sector 3 Police Station. Janak Raj has also been booked under the Juvenile Justice Act.
Late on Friday evening, the police arrested Janak from Sukhna Lake and rescued five minor children including two girls aged 14 and 17 after conducting a raid at his premises.
During Raj’s questioning, the police established the role of Mithun who was arrested today and based on his statements three minor boys aged between 12 and 13 years were rescued from various dhabhas in the city.
Raj, who has been working with Punjab Cooperative Federation as a helper since 2001, told the police that he had been suffering from a back problem for the last two years. He planned to open a placement agency for providing domestic help service as some of his friends were into the business work and were doing good.
He further told the police that he had registered the firm and had advertised last year for providing domestic helps in order to develop his client base.
Raj told the police that he directly got demand from the households and then through his agents like Mithun he procured children from different states including West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh. He had been supplying kids in Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir.
During Mithun’s questioning it was established that he had brought the children from his village in West Bengal for Rs 500.
It also came to the knowledge of the cops that the money earned by the children was taken by Raj.
Raj claimed that he sent the money to the children’s parents. However, the authenticity of his claim is being verified by the police.
SP (operations) R S Ghumman said that efforts would be made to trace and rescue other minors who have been forcefully made to work.
ASP (Central) Deshraj said that preliminary investigation revealed that no physical exploitation of the minors had been done, but the possibility has been not ruled out.

Meanwhile,the children will be presented before a child welfare committee which will decide where these children will be sent. 

Source

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Sold for marriage, 17-yr-old pregnant girl rescued in Haryana

A 17-year-old girl, who was five months pregnant, was rescued from a village in Haryana where she was sold for marriage. The victim has claimed that the deal took place in a hotel in Daryaganj and the person, whom she was sold to, has even raped her. 

The girl was rescued last month with the help of an NGO, Shakti Vahini.

Sources in Delhi Police said that traffickers are using Delhi as a centre to sell minors for marriage, prostitution and to work as domestic helps.month with the help of an NGO, Shakti Vahini.

This year alone, the NGO has rescued over 260 minors who were brought to Delhi from states such as Assam, West Bengal and Jharkhand.

“Shahida Begum (name changed) is a native of Assam. The rescuers faced stiff resistance by the villagers, who claimed their daughter-in law was five months pregnant,” Rishi Kant of Shakti Vahini NGO said.

The police in their investigation found that Shahida was brought to Delhi by a man who is yet to be identified. “He sold her to one Rakesh for Rs 25,000 at a Daryaganj hotel. She was then taken to Shahpur village of Jind district where Rakesh married her forcibly,” the officer said. Shahida was missing since April from her house in Assam.

According to experts, trafficking in Haryana for forced marriages has reached alarming proportions.

“There are agents in Delhi who bring girls from various states and then contact the customer,” the officer further said.

Hindustan Times

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Human traffickers on the prowl in Jharkhand

A plethora of beneficial schemes for women and girl child under Bitia Varsh in 2012 and Ladli Lakhsmi Yojna, is said to be launched on the 11th foundation day of Jharkhand, celebrated on 15th November by the Chief Minister Arjun Munda. “We care!” is the resounding affectionate message that will resonate this year for addressing the problems and upliftment of the girl child.

However, Jharkhand, a decade old State is grappling with numerous problems and human trafficking especially of its women and children tops the list. This nemesis caught the attention and stirred the conscience of the Government and the society in 2004 when maximum numbers of trafficking cases were reported from Jharkhand. The State’s present data still adds creases of worry with 100 per cent rise in trafficking cases in 2010-11.

Shakuntala Kujur(name changed) a resident of Mander block of Ranchi district works in Reliance Fresh and is a trained security guard. Until a few years ago her life was a tragedy worst compounded. It bears a tale of saddest experiences, an ignominious life of torture and deceit by her close relative. Traded and sold as cattle at the minor age of 12, she hoped of financially helping her family living in abject poverty after the death of her father.

Her uncle sold her to a middle man who brought her to Delhi and placed her as a domestic worker. At her employers house she was subjected to over work and denied enough food and sleep. For every mistake committed she was abused physically and verbally. Deprived of proper shelter, she was often sexually assaulted by the driver of her employer who terrorised her of dire consequences.

Numbed by the constant physical and mental exploitation, survival for her became a daily battle. She recounts a horrid instance, once when unable to lift a heavy trunk, her mistress beat her so brutally that she was left with a broken arm and multiple injuries. After four years, Shakuntala could muster courage to slip out of the house and reach Delhi railway station. Luck favoured her as she was caught by the Railway Police and sent to Ranchi. Here she came into contact with Bhartiya Kissan Sangh, an NGO, who trained her to become a security guard and live a dignified life.

In a bizarre incident of last month, Shiela Soren from Simdega was abducted by her distant brother-in-law at gun point while on way to her college hostel in Ranchi. She was sold for `25,000 to a group of traffickers who brought her to Delhi and was waiting for a better bargain to sell her further. For two months she lived in sub-human condition with no respite from the unending torture. By sheer luck, she contacted her family and was rescued by the Ranchi Police. Shocked, she looks overtly blank with an aura of deep melancholy blanketing her face. Innumerable heart - numbing accounts faced by thousands of girls trafficked from Jharkhand go unreported.

The python-headed insatiable greed, its mouth gaping wide, is engulfing the conscience of the society. Its serpentine grip is strangulating our reasoning, compassion and sympathy towards our own and the deprived. Universally, humans migrate in search of improved economy and security- the basic elements of life. In the process people from the weaker economic sections of society due to ignorance and naivety are lured into a world of exploitation and commercialisation and treated as commodities for monetary gains. They fall prey to the nefarious intentions of domestic and international gangs.

Human trafficking is a serious human rights violation. It is an organised crime estimated to generate crores of profit per year for the well networked global traffickers. The strength of trafficking business is the anonymity of the supply chain which is long, undulated and uneven involving recruiter, seller, buyer, transporter and agent at different points of time. The traffic victims are confined and forced to work as bonded labourers, servitude, removal of organs, for marriage and often forced into prostitution.

Trafficking is preponderant in the extremely torn regions of Palamu, Garhwa, Chaibasa, all districts of Santhal Parganas, Lohardagga, Ranchi, Khunti, Dhanbad and Bokaro. Most of the women and children trafficked from Jharkhand belong to Oraon, Munda, Santhal and Gond tribes. 77 per cent girls trafficked belong to the ST category, 12 per cent to SC, 3 per cent to the general and 8 per cent to the OBC category as informed by Sanjay Mishra of ATSEC. Illiteracy, deplorable living conditions due to miniscule economic development, life of depravation due to less employment opportunities make them vulnerable. The glare of metros seed desire to work in cities where it is easier to conceal ones identity.

According to the data released by the NCRB, cases of sexual exploitation of minor girls records a 186.5 per cent increase. Conscience awakening of committed NGOs, CBOs, Civil Society, Jharkhand State Women’s Commission, State Social Welfare Department, the police and the judiciary can curb this inhuman practice. Government must generate adequate livelihoods to check exodus. Panchayats, priest forums and media should spread awareness and educate women communities at village level against this menace. The exemplary work done by ATSEC, BKS, Asha Kiran, Diya Sewa Sansthan in the field of trafficking is the only silver lining in an otherwise a very dark cloud.

Source

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Bride trafficking: 2 minors rescued, three held

NEW DELHI: Two minor girls - brought to the capital to be sold off as brides in Haryana - have been rescued by the police in the past two weeks. Haryana has been in the news for the rampanttrafficking of girl children, all thanks to its skewedsex ratio.

In the first incident, a 16-year-old girl, a native of Betul district of Madhya Pradesh, was rescued from the Jind railway station. She was found in a traumatised condition by the GRP. Her uncle, Ramesh, had sold her to Ved Prakash, a truck driver, against a payment of Rs 90,000. However, she fled from his house on October 22. She told the cops that she was married against her wishes and wanted to return to her native village. After her medical examination, the girl was given shelter at Karnal Nariniketan.

Though the Madhya Pradesh police has arrested Ramesh, Ved Prakash is still at large. Fresh raids are being conducted in Madhya Pradesh to nab the local traffickers.

In the second incident, a 13-year-old girl from Santhal in West Bengal was forcefully brought to Delhi and employed as a domestic help in Janakpuri, at the house of Nirja Bhaskar. The girl's family had urged Nirja to let the girl return home but Nirja refused to comply. Instead, she demanded that the family cough up a sum of Rs 16,000 which she had paid to the placement agency. However, Nirja was tracked down by the NGO Shakti Vahini and the girl was rescued.

The girl was brought to the capital by Pina Roy and Rina Hemram - both in the police net - three months back. After reaching Delhi she stayed in Sangam Vihar with Rina where she was often beaten up by Rina's husband. She made umpteen requests to go back home but the couple employed her as a domestic help. Later, she worked somewhere else. After suffering untold misery at the hands of her new employer, she ran away to Sangam Vihar. There she came in contact with another person from Bengal who used her as a bonded labourer and was planning to sell her as a child bride.

"Recent raids have thrown light on the trafficking of girl children to Haryana - with Delhi as the transit point. Girls from Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal, Chattisgarh and Chandigarh are brought here with almost no scope of returning. We are planning a nationwide drive to address the problem,'' said Rishikant, coordinator, Shakti Vahini.

TOI

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Anti-Human Trafficking special cell in Balasore

BHUBANESWAR: The Ministry of Home Affairs has sanctioned the sixth Integrated Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (IAHTU) for the State. The special cell would be located at Balasore.
Five IAHTUs are currently operational at the Crime Branch, Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Commissionerate of Police, and Range Headquarters of Rourkela, Sambalpur and Berhampur.
With northern Odisha emerging as an area most vulnerable to human trafficking, the State had proposed the additional unit at Balasore. The anti-human trafficking unit would be provided an annual consolidated grant of ` 1 lakh. The special cell will have jurisdiction over the entire State.
Human trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation, labour, forced marriages, domestic servitude, adoption, begging and public sports are on the rise in the State. “Data reveal that trafficking has taken shape of an organised crime in the State and must be dealt with professional expertise,” a Crime Branch officer said.
The IAHTUs are mandated with intelligence gathering, rescue operations and action against the offenders. Besides, repatriation of victims belonging to other states and rehabilitation of local victims are the other responsibilities of the cell.

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Woman gets 3 years' jail term for selling girl from Bengal

PANIPAT: A local woman, who had forced a poor girl from West Bengal into flesh trade and later sold her for Rs 10,000 to a local farmer, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment by additional sessions judge Vani Gopal Sharma on Thursday.

Anita, who lives in hutments in Sector 25, was found guilty of wrongful confinement, abduction and compelling the girl to marry.

Driven by poverty, 20-year-old girl Pinky ran away from her house in Kolkata and reached Panipat railway station. There she met Anita, who, after sympathizing with her, took her home. There she pushed her into flesh trade and kept her in illegal confinement for two months. Later, the girl was sold to Karan Singh, a resident of Chhajpur village in the district, for Rs 10,000.

However, the girl managed to escape from captivity and reached the police station, where a case was registered against Anita on March 12, 2010. Soon, the girl went back to her home in Kolkata and came here only to depose before the court.

After collecting evidence in the case, police moved a challan in the court and during hearings, Anita was found guilty of keeping Pinky in illegal confinement and compelling her to marry Karan Singh. Pronouncing the verdict, judge Vani Gopal Sharma said there was sufficient evidence on record to prove the accused guilty and sentenced her to three years' imprisonment, besides a fine of Rs 1,500.

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19-year-old married girl abducted, sold for Rs. 17,000

Hingoli (Maharashtra):  A 19-year-old married girl was abducted and sold for Rs. 17,000 to a man in Rajasthan by three persons, police said on Friday.

Hasinabi Shaikh Amir, a resident of Katneshwar village in Purna tehsil of this district in Central Maharashtra, was abducted on October 20 and taken by train to Rajasthan, where she was sold for Rs. 17,000, they said.

A case has been registered against the three suspects, Aktarkhan Hajratkhan Pathan, a resident of adjoining Parbhani district, Sayed Rafiq Syed Abbas and Shaikh Noor alias Gabbar, both hailing from the victim's village, police said.

She had come to Kinhola village in Vasmat tehsil to meet her mother when she was kidnapped. Her husband lodged a missing person complaint with Purna police on October 22.

However, the man who bought Hasinabi set her free when he realised that she was three-months pregnant. She returned to Purna on Thursday and lodged a police complaint, they added.   NDTV

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"Wife-sharing" haunts Indian villages as girls decline

By Nita Bhalla

Thu Oct 27, 2011 10:03am BST

BAGHPAT, India, Oct 27 (TrustLaw) - When Munni arrived in this fertile, sugarcane-growing region of north India as a young bride years ago, little did she imagine she would be forced into having sex and bearing children with her husband's two brothers who had failed to find wives.

Phul Kumari, 25, stands with her child in

 front of a window in a village community centre 

in Baghpat district, located in India's northern state 

of Uttar Pradesh October 18, 2011. Kumari 

was trafficked to Uttar Pradesh as a bride for

 her husband and has been repeatedly 

raped by his brothers who could not 

find wives  

Photo: Reuters

"My husband and his parents said I had to share myself with his brothers," said the woman in her mid-40s, dressed in a yellow sari, sitting in a village community centre in Baghpat district in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

"They took me whenever they wanted -- day or night. When I resisted, they beat me with anything at hand," said Munni, who had managed to leave her home after three months only on the pretext of visiting a doctor.

"Sometimes they threw me out and made me sleep outside or they poured kerosene over me and burnt me."

Such cases are rarely reported to police because women in these communities are seldom allowed outside the home unaccompanied, and the crimes carry deep stigma for the victims. So there may be many more women like Munni in the mud-hut villages of the area.

Munni, who has three sons from her husband and his brothers, has not filed a police complaint either.

Social workers say decades of aborting female babies in a deeply patriarchal culture has led to a decline in the population of women in some parts of India, like Baghpat, and in turn has resulted in rising incidents of rape, human trafficking and the emergence of "wife-sharing" amongst brothers.

Aid workers say the practice of female foeticide has flourished among several communities across the country because of a traditional preference for sons, who are seen as old-age security.

"We are already seeing the terrible impacts of falling numbers of females in some communities," says Bhagyashri Dengle, executive director of children's charity Plan India.

"We have to take this as a warning sign and we have to do something about it or we'll have a situation where women will constantly be at risk of kidnap, rape and much, much worse."

Munni, who goes by one name, sits in a village community center in Baghpat district, located in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh October 18, 2011. The mother of three was married into a family of three sons where she was shared amongst her husband and his brothers who could not find wives (Photo: Reuters) 

SECRET PRACTICES

Just two hours drive from New Delhi, with its gleaming office towers and swanky malls, where girls clad in jeans ride motor bikes and women occupy senior positions in multi-nationals, the mud-and-brick villages of Baghpat appear a world apart.

Here, women veil themselves in the presence of men, are confined to the compounds of their houses as child bearers and home makers, and are forbidden from venturing out unaccompanied.

Village men farm the lush sugarcane plantations or sit idle on charpoys, or traditional rope beds, under the shade of trees in white cotton tunics, drinking tea, some smoking hookah pipes while lamenting the lack of brides for their sons and brothers.

The figures are telling.

According to India's 2011 census, there are only 858 women to every 1,000 men in Baghpat district, compared to the national sex ratio of 940.

Child sex ratios in Baghpat are even more skewed and on the decline with 837 girls in 2011 compared to 850 in 2001 -- a trend mirrored across districts in northern Indian states such as Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan and Gujarat in the west.

"In every village, there are at least five or six bachelors who can't find a wife. In some, there are up to three or four unmarried men in one family. It's a serious problem," says Shri Chand, 75, a retired police constable.

"Everything is hush, hush. No one openly admits it, but we all know what is going on. Some families buy brides from other parts of the country, while others have one daughter-in-law living with many unwedded brothers."

Women from other regions such as the states of Jharkhand and West Bengal speak of how their poor families were paid sums of as little as 15,000 rupees ($300) by middle-men and brought here to wed into a different culture, language and way of life.

"It was hard at first, there was so much to learn and I didn't understand anything. I thought I was here to play," said Sabita Singh, 25, who was brought from a village in West Bengal at the age of 14 to marry her husband, 19 years her elder.

"I've got used to it," she says holding her third child in her lap. "I miss my freedom."

Such exploitation of women is illegal in India, but many of these crimes are gradually becoming acceptable among such close-knit communities because the victims are afraid to speak out and neighbours unwilling to interfere.

Some villagers say the practice of brothers sharing a wife has benefits, such as the avoidance of division of family land and other assets amongst heirs.

Others add the shortage of women has, in fact, freed some poor families with daughters from demands for substantial dowries by grooms' families.

Social activists say nothing positive can be derived from the increased exploitation of women, recounting cases in the area of young school girls being raped or abducted and auctioned off in public.

Sabita Singh, 25, stands in front of her home with her son in a village in Baghpat district, located in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh October 18, 2011. From a poor rural community in India's West Bengal state, Sabita was trafficked to Uttar Pradesh as a bride for her husband who is 19 years older. Picture taken October 18, 2011 (Photo: Reuters) 

UNABATED ABORTIONS

Despite laws making pre-natal gender tests illegal, India's 2011 census indicated that efforts to curb female foeticide have been futile.

While India's overall female-to-male ratio marginally improved since the last census in 2001, fewer girls were born than boys and the number of girls under six years old plummeted for the fifth decade running.

A May study in the British medical journal Lancet found that up to 12 million Indian girls were aborted over the last three decades -- resulting in a skewed child sex ratio of 914 girls to every 1,000 boys in 2011 compared with 962 in 1981.

Sons, in traditionally male-dominated regions, are viewed as assets -- breadwinners who will take care of the family, continue the family name, and perform the last rites of the parents, an important ritual in many faiths.

Daughters are seen as a liability, for whom families have to pay substantial wedding dowries. Protecting their chastity is a major concern as instances of pre-marital sex are seen to bring shame and dishonour on families.

Women's rights activists say breaking down these deep-rooted, age-old beliefs is a major challenge.

"The real solution is to empower girls and women in every way possible," says Neelam Singh, head of Vatsalya, an Indian NGO working on children's and women's issues.

"We need to provide them with access to education, healthcare and opportunities which will help them make decisions for themselves and stand up to those who seek to abuse or exploit them." (TrustLaw is a global news service on women's rights and good governance run by Thomson Reuters Foundation. For more information see www.trust.org/trustlaw)

(Editing by Sugita Katyal)

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Video : Bride trafficking and our works

Work******* Slideshow: EMPOWER’s trip from Rajasthan, India to 8 cities Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Hyderabad, Haryana, Punjab, Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand was created by TripAdvisor. See another India slideshow. Create your own stunning slideshow with our free photo slideshow maker.

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India is home of unspeakable crimes against women

Three African women have won the Nobel peace prize this year for raising effective protest voices against the discrimination and oppression of their gender in highly hostile and conservative surroundings. Who is doing the same in our country which was recently bracketed by the United Nations as the top two nations recording majority of ''117 million missing girls'' in Asia?

Amid empty talk of ‘empowerment of women’—rapes have become a routine affair with girl-children or teenagers being regularly targeted in every city, town or rural area. It is as if wolves have been set on the second-sex – feticide to outright killing.

A steep decline in the quality of governance, proportionate rise in public inertia and self-centered attitude or simple indifference of the public has made matters worse for women, particularly from the Dalit segment which remains most vulnerable against muscle, money and political powers of the intermediate caste with dominant feudal tendencies.

If on the one hand it is uninterrupted ‘honour killing’ against girls seeking to assert their independence in their personal lives, on the other it is the wanton outrage of modesty with no counter-action from the state or the society at large. Instances of poor and lower-caste women resisting rape and then disfigured with thier nose, hands or other body parts chopped are not few and far between -- some are reported but a large majority go unnoticed. In some states, ministers are themselves accused of rape.

At the ground level, women occupying high posts as head of state, prime minister, speaker, leader of opposition, chief of political party or holding other constitutional posts in the country is not making any material difference in the abysmal condition of the same gender.

Not a day passes when unspeakable crimes like rape, gang-rape or simple butchering of the victims are not reported from bustling cities and villages. There seems to be no safety for women of any age group unless they are protected by bodyguards. And these are a few privileged women in high-end jobs or business, politics or Bollywood.

The tilt against women have roots going back to centuries.

The insecurity (monitory or otherwise) relating to girl-child vis-à-vis a male one is further reinforced by moth-eaten traditions and beliefs. Education has not made any desirable change in the attitudes. The transparently hypocrite ‘educated middle class’ goes to Singapore and Thailand for sex determination tests. Some top film stars have also reportedly flown to these countries ‘to work out’ a male progeny.

False prestige

The so called ‘liberated class’ gives dowry to their daughters as a matter of false prestige when it has options available to make them stand on their feet so that they could make independent choices. There are lakhs of instances where rich parents of daughters have paid crores of rupees succumbing to the ‘black mail’ of in-laws or that of the husband but did not have the courage to bring their daughters back home (the fear of societal stigma!).

The end result in a majority of such cases is no secret – daughters are done to death by in-laws lusting for more money. This is the case with the city-based ‘modern, English speaking Indians’ who would otherwise be swearing by the western life style, thought and ‘individual independence.’

The cumulative outcome is that India has one of the largest incidents of female foeticide. The country has the dubious distinction of having one of the biggest girl-child prostitution in the world. In the list of annual missing (abducted) children (estimated to be around 70,000 each year) girl children are the majority.

The systemic brutality against the girl-child has, over a period, led to an imbalance in the sex ratio, with Haryana – the citadel of public lynching of women -- having the highest skewed ratio (877 women against 1,000 men). It is no better in Punjab, Delhi, Maharashtra and other states the northern India.

Haryana’s infamous ‘khap panchayats’ which order ‘honour killings’ of young couples marrying against the wishes of their elders, has the blessings of the political class, playing regressive politics of vote bank even after 63 years of independence and in spite of the Supreme Court’s scathing remarks on ‘khaps.’ One of the young Congress MPs, Naveen Jindal, has openly defended the ‘khaps’.

The irony is that there is not even a semblance of a pro-active step from governments, human rights organisations, women’s organisations or women politicians to bring a visible major policy shift in respect of administration of justice, law and order and change in the functioning of police which has a mindset tilted against working or ‘liberated women.’

Women’s organisations or government bodies step into the scene only if a rich or a celebrity is involved or if media continues to focus on the issue that is ‘encashable’. The concerns of these ‘professional bodies’ fade-out swiftly once the electronic media in particular switches off its camera on the victim.

Women, otherwise, portrayed in hyperbole terms in religious texts, literature and traditions of the country remain prisoners of time, traditions, political games and the rising consumerist web. There is no ‘safe exit’ for her even though she may be a city-based working women or an uneducated village women drawing water from a pond.

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