The incidence of girl child trafficking in tribal belts of Madhya Pradesh have picked up such deep root that even the law enforcement agencies now believes that only legal measures cannot prevent it, said Mr. V.K.Pawar, Inspector General of Police (ST welfare), Madhya Pradesh. And to wipe out inhuman trafficking of minor girls mass awareness camps will be organized in tribal belts like Mandla, Dindori etc. He further pointed out that special instructions are given to officers at district level to handle such cases on priority bases to eradicate the roots of girls trafficking. Though tribal awareness is positive approach to reduce girls trafficking but still this is an unanswered question that why no follow-up takes place in such cases, they remain unreported and why their is no support system for victims & their family?
A tribal girl Rukmani (changed name) was very lucky to getaway from the racket of child trafficking after three years of bondage & subjugation by trafficking agency & its clients. But all the young girls may not be so fortunate to escape from it.
Rukmani, a tribal girl of Mandla district was just 13 and studying in 5th class when she came in contact with Sonali in 2006 while her way to school. Local resident Sonali working as an agent insisted Rukmani’s father Anandram Baiga to send Rukmani to Delhi along with her. Sonali promised, “In Delhi, I will support her to get good job of nursing assistance along with that Rukmani can continue her education.” But when Rukmani’s parents refused to send Rukmani, Sonali continuously provoked Rukmani while her way to school saying that it is the golden chance for her to continue her education in a metro city like Delhi.
Similar lure was given to Shakuntala of Jhuluk Kanhari in Bichhiya Block. She was entrapped by a girl Mulliya of nearby village, who was also going to Delhi. Mulliya entangled her saying that “Dekhkar to aaye saher hota kaise hai?” i.e. we should go once to see how big city looks like? Three boys took them to Moti Nagar office which is an agency to supply domestic servants at Delhi. She worked in Delhi for one year & came back after her Uncle’s intervention.
Related incidence were traced in Blocktola of Bichhiya block from where five girls are still in Delhi since last year, working as maid servant supplied through local agent Kamla Choudhary of village Savri. All of them were of age group 10-14 years studying in primary school.
Such teen age girls seem very excited while going to Delhi. It comes to them as day dream coming true, so they easily geared up & moved to Delhi without taking the permission of their parents and relatives. Parents or the girls herself have to make arrangement of travel expenses. For this, they mortgage valuable items and take loans. Rukmani told that she had to mortgage her anklet for Rs.500, as her parents were not ready to send her.
These agents deliver the trafficked girls to the network agencies to supplying domestic servants. They are kept in agency’s office till they are placed in some houses as domestic servants. Everyday some people come to the office, select a girl & take them along. They have to do all the domestic work including washing clothes, utensils, dusting, cooking etc.
When victim’s family pressurizes agents to give them the address of their daughters or sisters, but agents tries to misguide them. Victims are forced not to have any contact with their families during the course of their stay in Delhi or other places. Also they are not allowed to take a single holiday. During 2 years time span, Anandram went to Delhi thrice to bring back her daughter Rukmani but the agency refused saying that no holidays are left with Rukmani & come back only after one year. Thus victims can manage to return home only through exhaustive efforts of their parents or on the will of the supply agency. But innocent tribal receives no support from the law enforcement agency for releasing them.
The trafficked girls who managed to return home shared their awful experiences in cities. According to Shakuntala the agency offices supplying domestic servants are operative in Moti Nagar, Rajouri Garden, Indrapuri and other areas of Delhi. Minor girls reached their through the local agents from different states like Orissa, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand etc.
These victims seem hesitant to talk on the issue of sexual exploitation because the blame of such exploitation often put on the victims only and rehabilitation support are provided to them. But some of them had accepted that they have gone through such harassment at both placed placement offices and houses to which they were placed. During the police investigation it was revealed that Hero Bai of Chhata village, Mandla had undergone through physical harassment.
Even if they managed to return home, they are again forced or tempted to move back to their work or should at least work as agent to ensure regular supply of girls to such networks. In lack of livelihood options, rehabilitation measures and sickening poverty, they are forced to accept such exploitative offers.
The minor girls who are being trafficked to cities as domestic servants are made confined to the house to which they are placed and are refuse even the right to receive or make telephone calls to their families or move out even within the city. The utmost painful thing to victims like Rukmani was not to have any contact with the parents.
Teen aged Sunita Gond of Sakwa village were trafficked to Delhi in 2004 through a peer agent Kamlawati and till today parents of Sunita had no information regarding her daughter. Kunwar Singh having doubt, “Sunita has been sold in Delhi.”
Vivek Pawar of Jan Sangarsh Morcha pointed out that these agents entrap the poor and needy tribal by showing voracity of large sum of money. But in the end they end took away a large share of the hard earned money of young girls in the name of commission and other expenses incurred on the girl while her stay in a big city.
Earlier the agents are outsiders who come specifically for the purpose to identify and traffic tribal girls through well-established network but now due to expose of such cases through media, these network agencies have changed their strategy to hire victims on commission basis to snare peer girls form their own villages. As these victims or so called agents belong to same area, the innocent tribal easily believes them and ready to send their daughters. In case if parents refused to send minor girls, agents are trend to use peer pressure to directly force the target group. Peer pressure resulted in the increase in trafficking from tribal belts. Agents like Sonali can be easily traced near primary and middle school to entrap minor girls.
Parents of the girls trafficked to various places knows about the agents and agencies indulged in girls trafficking but they could not lodge a complaint against such traffickers because of strong network and power play of these agencies. They are forced to keep silent, even if their own daughter found missing.
According to NCRB data, merely two incidence of selling of girls for prostitution and 22 cases of procuring of minor girls had only been registered in 2006 and 2007 in Madhya Pradesh. But according to social worker Mr. Naresh Vishwas it was found in a survey that of around 600 young girls has been trafficked from Mandla district alone in the last five years. During the course of stay in Delhi, these girls face lot of physical, mental, emotional & economic exploitation at different levels.
Madhya Pradesh has been identified as a source and transit point of national & international racket of human trafficking. Young teenagers are the soft targets of these agents as it is very easy ensnare them. Peer pressures are also used to trap out these adolescent girls. Poverty, loss of traditional sources of livelihood, growing unemployment and forced migration has all contributed to the increase in child trafficking. A big network of child trafficking is operational not only in Mandla but in different district of Madhya Pradesh. Racket agencies seems overpowering all laws & policy measures meant to prevent child trafficking.
- Seema Jain |
