NEW DELHI:
The Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018, commonly referred as Anti-Human Trafficking Bill is being tabled in Parliament today. Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) welcomes the tabling of this Bill which, if passed, will be one of the most comprehensive anti-trafficking laws in the world.
BBA has been advocating for a strong law against human trafficking for several years. The tabling of this Bill is a validation of BBA’s 40-year struggle to make this a reality. One of BBA’s many significant contributions has been the drafting of the first version of the Bill in collaboration with the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
“The tabling of Anti-Human Trafficking Bill is a resounding victory for the children of India and the common people who joined Bharat Yatra with me in 2017. I trust the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and it is time to send a strong message that India will not allow this heinous form of human slavery to flourish on this sacred land.” The month-long Bharat Yatra, launched by Satyarthi in September 2017 set in motion the world’s largest youth-led
mobilization for all children in need of care and protection.
The Bill, which was cleared in the Cabinet in March 2018, targets all aspects of human trafficking including economic, organized and sexual crimes. The Bill demands stringent punishment for the accused and includes a provision for a rehabilitation fund for the victims. It also includes an investigation framework for victims from national to district level.
According to BBA’s research on missing children, every eight minutes a child goes missing in the country and in majority of the cases, the child is trafficked for sexual abuse, prostitution, forced labour, slavery, child marriage, organ trade and other purposes.
Trafficking was defined as an organized crime for the first time in 2011 after BBA filed a petition in the Supreme Court. The definition of trafficking was included in the Justice Verma Committee Report in 2013 through the recommendations of BBA. Thereafter, BBA worked with the Standing Committee of the Home Affairs Ministry for amendment to Section 370 of the Indian Penal Code as part of the Criminal Ordinance Act 2013.
