India struggles to stop trafficking of women

POSTED: 2350 GMT (0750 HKT), June 6, 2007

NEW DELHI, India (AP) -- Meena discovered she had been sold by her boss while riding in an auto-rickshaw headed to New Delhi's red-light district.
The 12-year-old was working as a domestic servant in Calcutta when the homeowner told her about a good-paying job at his sister's house in India's capital. But instead, she was sold to a brothel owner and forced into prostitution for little more than a place to sleep and the occasional meal.
Her ordeal lasted four years and Meena, now 21, says it left her "a very angry person."
"The anger comes suddenly," says Meena, who asked that her full name not be used because of the stigma associated with her past.
Beneath the surface of India's rapid economic development lies a problem rooted in the persistent poverty of hundreds of millions of Indians. Rights activists say thousands of poor women and girls are forced into prostitution every year after being lured from villages to cities on false promises of jobs or marriages.
Much of the attention on human trafficking focuses on the estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people -- about 80 percent of them women or girls -- who are trafficked across international borders every year, and, in many cases, forced to work as prostitutes or virtual slaves who perform menial tasks.
But those numbers don't include victims trafficked within their own countries -- a problem that has long plagued India, a country large and diverse enough that traffickers can take victims from one place to another hundreds of miles away where a different language is spoken and there's little chance of the women finding their way back home.
"This is a challenge to India's contention that it is both democratic and modern," said Ruchira Gupta, founder of the anti-trafficking group Apne Aap. "In this day and age, when democracy is supposed to exist in India ... we have so many slaves."
Traffickers rarely caught
The secrecy of the underground business makes it difficult to track, and the estimates for the numbers of India's victims each year vary widely.
But this much is known: the government estimates there are 3 million sex workers in India, at least 40 percent of them children. And thousands of them are believed to have been unwittingly lured into the work by traffickers, rights activists say.
Most of the girls come from India's poorer states. A family member or friend approaches the girl's parents about a well-paying job in the city or the chance for marriage with little or no need to pay a dowry.
In some cases, parents sell the girls directly. Prices range from several hundred to several thousand dollars.
Traffickers are rarely caught. The U.S. State Department said in an annual report on human trafficking last year that India's law enforcement response to the problem was weak and prosecutions rare.
" Women are being rounded up for soliciting in a public place, but there are very few arrests of men who are running the whole trade -- the buyers, the pimps, transporters." - Ruchira Gupta, founder of Apne Aap
In Mumbai, which has the highest concentration of sex workers, only 13 traffickers were arrested in 2005, and none were convicted, according to the State Department. The situation was similar in other cities.
"One of the best ways to prevent trafficking is to increase convictions of trafficking -- and this is not happening," said Gupta. "Women are being rounded up for soliciting in a public place, but there are very few arrests of men who are running the whole trade -- the buyers, the pimps, transporters."
Deepa Jain Singh, secretary for India's Ministry of Women and Child Development, said the government is "trying to do more" about the problem of sex trafficking, but he declined to specify what steps were being taken.
What becomes of the girls? There are many pitfalls. HIV infections among sex workers are widespread in a country with an estimated 5.7 million people infected with the disease.
And women who manage to escape are often rejected by their families, leaving them poor and alone in a society where family means almost everything.
Rebuilding lives
Meena's childhood before being sold into prostitution was filled with long days of domestic work in the rural eastern state of Jharkhand. She received little or no pay, she said, but "I was so poor, I could not leave."
At the urging of her mother, she moved to Calcutta for what she was told would be a paid maid's position. When her boss then sent her to New Delhi, Meena never found out the price she brought on the human trafficking market.
She was rescued from the brothel by STOP, an anti-trafficking group founded in 1998. She lives in the group's shelter on the western edge of New Delhi, a large two-story white house with long hallways situated amid the farm fields that spread out from the city's edge. There are vegetable gardens, and the women who live there embroider and cook for each other.
It's run by Roma Debabrata, a 59-year-old academic who founded STOP. Two years ago, the group built the 22-room shelter where more than 40 women attempt to rebuild their lives.
Debabrata's goal is to make the girls and women in the house function "like a normal family."
"I don't expect miracles from them. They're very normal people and they're being nurtured here in very natural surroundings," she said. "We want them to go from victim to survivor to activist. It's a long journey. You're completely drained out."
The organization has built an information network, with tips called in to a hot line operated out of an unmarked office. The staffers work with local police to raid brothels and rescue endangered girls.
Some are resettled with their families or married, aided by STOP's counseling services.
But for many, moving back to their villages is not an option.
"I love to be here because I've got my mother, my father, my siblings," said Meena, referring to her house mates. "I never feel this is someone else's home. It is my own."
Copyright 200cast, rewritten, or redistributed.7 The Associated Press

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seattlepi.com
Last updated June 6, 2007
India combats trafficking of women
By KATHERINE SAYREASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NEW DELHI -- Meena discovered she had been sold by her boss while riding in an auto-rickshaw headed to New Delhi's red-light district.
The 12-year-old was working as a domestic servant in Calcutta when the homeowner told her about a good-paying job at his sister's house in India's capital. But instead, she was sold to a brothel owner and forced into prostitution for little more than a place to sleep and the occasional meal.
Her ordeal lasted four years and Meena, now 21, says it left her "a very angry person."
"The anger comes suddenly," says Meena, who asked that her full name not be used because of the stigma associated with her past.
Beneath the surface of India's rapid economic development lies a problem rooted in the persistent poverty of hundreds of millions of Indians. Rights activists say thousands of poor women and girls are forced into prostitution every year after being lured from villages to cities on false promises of jobs or marriages.
Much of the attention on human trafficking focuses on the estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people - about 80 percent of them women or girls - who are trafficked across international borders every year, and, in many cases, forced to work as prostitutes or virtual slaves who perform menial tasks.
But those numbers don't include victims trafficked within their own countries - a problem that has long plagued India, a country large and diverse enough that traffickers can take victims from one place to another hundreds of miles away where a different language is spoken and there's little chance of the women finding their way back home.
"This is a challenge to India's contention that it is both democratic and modern," said Ruchira Gupta, founder of the anti-trafficking group Apne Aap. "In this day and age, when democracy is supposed to exist in India ... we have so many slaves."
The secrecy of the underground business makes it difficult to track, and the estimates for the numbers of India's victims each year vary widely.
But this much is known: the government estimates there are 3 million sex workers in India, at least 40 percent of them children. And thousands of them are believed to have been unwittingly lured into the work by traffickers, rights activists say.
Most of the girls come from India's poorer states. A family member or friend approaches the girl's parents about a well-paying job in the city or the chance for marriage with little or no need to pay a dowry.
In some cases, parents sell the girls directly. Prices range from several hundred to several thousand dollars.
Traffickers are rarely caught. The U.S. State Department said in an annual report on human trafficking last year that India's law enforcement response to the problem was weak and prosecutions rare.
In Mumbai, which has the highest concentration of sex workers, only 13 traffickers were arrested in 2005, and none were convicted, according to the State Department. The situation was similar in other cities.
"One of the best ways to prevent trafficking is to increase convictions of trafficking - and this is not happening," said Gupta. "Women are being rounded up for soliciting in a public place, but there are very few arrests of men who are running the whole trade - the buyers, the pimps, transporters."
Deepa Jain Singh, secretary for India's Ministry of Women and Child Development, said the government is "trying to do more" about the problem of sex trafficking, but he declined to specify what steps were being taken.
What becomes of the girls? There are many pitfalls. HIV infections among sex workers are widespread in a country with an estimated 5.7 million people infected with the disease.
And women who manage to escape are often rejected by their families, leaving them poor and alone in a society where family means almost everything.
Meena's childhood before being sold into prostitution was filled with long days of domestic work in the rural eastern state of Jharkhand. She received little or no pay, she said, but "I was so poor, I could not leave."
At the urging of her mother, she moved to Calcutta for what she was told would be a paid maid's position. When her boss then sent her to New Delhi, Meena never found out the price she brought on the human trafficking market.
She was rescued from the brothel by STOP, an anti-trafficking group founded in 1998. She lives in the group's shelter on the western edge of New Delhi, a large two-story white house with long hallways situated amid the farm fields that spread out from the city's edge. There are vegetable gardens, and the women who live there embroider and cook for each other.
It's run by Roma Debabrata, a 59-year-old academic who founded STOP. Two years ago, the group built the 22-room shelter where more than 40 women attempt to rebuild their lives.
Debabrata's goal is to make the girls and women in the house function "like a normal family."
"I don't expect miracles from them. They're very normal people and they're being nurtured here in very natural surroundings," she said. "We want them to go from victim to survivor to activist. It's a long journey. You're completely drained out."
The organization has built an information network, with tips called in to a hot line operated out of an unmarked office. The staffers work with local police to raid brothels and rescue endangered girls.
Some are resettled with their families or married, aided by STOP's counseling services.
But for many, moving back to their villages is not an option.
"I love to be here because I've got my mother, my father, my siblings," said Meena, referring to her house mates. "I never feel this is someone else's home. It is my own."


Kadapa author listed on literary website
June 6 2007 15:05 IST
KADAPA: Popular novelist from Kadapa district Vempalli Gangadhar finds place alongside the top 10 authors list published on ‘India Net Zone’, a literary website.He was selected for his work Molakala Punnami’, which is put on the website along with works of Sunil Gangopadyaya, Maha Sweta Devi, Mulkraj Anand, Javed Akthar, Asha Purna Devi, Jabnad Das, Buddha Dev Ghosh, Dharmaveer Bharathi and KM Munshi.His work Molakala Punnami a compilation of short stories was released by Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy.The main attraction of the book is its narration. The style, characterisation are interesting and the dialogues between them are engaging, the review article on the website mentioned.Gangadhar, who is working as Telugu Pandit in Peddaputha ZP High School in Vallur Mandal received recognition for his story ‘Silabandi’ at the age of 29 itself. Till now 50 essays, 30 stories and two compilations of his got published.His Nethuti Manyam story, which has the proposed uranium project in Kadapa as background, received best story prize from popular monthly magazine Vipula. ATA (American Telugu Association) selected his Mainam Bhommalu, for an award.Trafficking of girls from Thandas to flesh trade is the central plot of this story. His many essays on social issues were published in the form of book ‘Kathanam’ and it was funded by Telugu University.The compilation also has articles on Gulf War, interviews of Arundathi Roy, Seshendra Sarma. Gangadhar, who is an active participant in ‘Telugu Bhasha Udyamam’ had worked as PRO for Kadapa Police department during VC Sajjanar’s time and acted as coordinator for Souvenir for Kadapotsav - 2003.He also worked with Amrutham, Sneha Brundam and Jagruthi social organisations and is active member of Regional Network for Prevention of Immoral Trafficking. Currently doing his MPhil on ‘Faction Kathalu - Oka Pariseelana’, Gangadhar wrote ‘Pune Prayanam’, which is based on the experiences of Thanda women forced into flesh trade and it will be published shortly.

Problem on paedophiles

The company of bad men

The company of bad men

Friday June 1 2007 15:28 IST

Sumati Mehrishi

Traveling sex offenders (TSOs) are very much on the prowl at Indian tourist destinations. On May 9, Richard Borodig, a British national was arrested from the Anjuna Beach, Goa. The paedophile-suspect is out on bail. Recently, the Tamil Nadu Police nabbed Alan Jay Horowitz, a US national listed among the 100 most wanted men in New York, in Mahabalipuram. Horowitz, a traveling sex offender and child psychologist was spotted in Bangalore before he came down to Mahabalipuram.

With Horowitz’s arrest, the issue of unregistered “children’s homes”is increasingly causing concern. This is what the Goa based NGOs have been trying to tell the media and people over the years; that tourism related paedophilia is not Goa’s problem alone, as is commonly believed. According to Nishtha Desai of Child Rights in Goa, an NGO based in Panjim, sexual abuses on children by tourists happen at other Indian tourist destinations as well, but the cases are never highlighted. “Kerala, Rajasthan, Delhi, Agra and Mumbai, it’s happening all over India,” she says.

“I fear it’s going to get worse in India, as the trouble deflects from other countries owing to international pressure,” says, Thierry Darnaudet, President, Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), an NGO working against TSOs in Cambodia and India.# Vidya Reddy of Tulir, a Chennai based Centre for the Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse, agrees. She says, “With Sri Lanka, Thailand and Philippines strengthening their response toTSOs, an increasing trend of travel to India among this category of individuals has been reported by alarmed law enforcement in the source countries. Perhaps, they realise that child sex tourism is not considered a significant issue at the moment in our country; with our laws and their implementation fairly lax. There is no dearth of vulnerable children in our country who can be exploited.”

TSOs follow certain patterns in their movement. According to Thierry, “There are TSOs who come to Puri every year and travel to Darjeeling.” He adds, “They return to Puri and leave for Chennai from where they travel to Mahabalipuram, Kovalam (in Kerala) and Goa.” They believe in lying low if they fear a watchful eye and operate at some other tourist destination. They befriend their prey and pose as philanthropists.

In India, NGOs helping the police fight the menace have faced problems owing to lack of “proper” evidence and witnesses turning hostile. According to Desai, the ten year old girl who was seen being let out from the front door of Borodig’s house when the police came cracking down, says that the man “molested” her. One of the few cases where a child has talked about her offender, “however her statements have not been recorded under Section 164 Cr PC before the magistrate”. “The suspect-paedophiles, when out on bail usually operate through other people. We have to keep an eye on them,” adds Desai.

“Spend a night on the town with kids from Britain and Bombay in Baga”. This is no invitation to a children’s party at a seaside locality in Goa. Unfortunately, unnoticed so far by child rights activists in the country, this line in a chapter on North Goa in Lonely Planet, a travel guide shows how openly (or subtly) the state is being projected as a child sex tourism destination — an “image” the Goan government and NGOs are trying so hard to eliminate.

According to sources in the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI), “children’s homes” in Goa “are a classic case” of how funding the ‘have-nots’ is a cover up for suspected-paedophile activities. CBI, which is handling the Goa sex scandal involving children’s homes “is aware of the happenings in Mahabalipuram.” #Incidentally, it was in December 2006 that people at an NGO noticed that there was information on “children’s homes” in Mahabalipuram in Lonely Planet on Tamil Nadu. NGOs collectively wrote to Lonely Planet in February this year. “Lonely Planet wrote back saying that they will look into it,” says a volunteer at an NGO. A few months ago, Mahabalipuram saw the shutting down of unregistered “children’s homes”.

According to A Amalraj, Superintendent of Police, Kancheepuram, there are no specific cases of child abuse by TSOs reported in Mahabalipuram. He says,“We hardly receive any specific complaints of this nature in the area. We need to receive complaints to take action.”

TSOs and child sex abuse: Different Issues

When the Nithari case came into light, attention and arguments shifted from sexual abuse against children by traveling paedophiles to that happening at the domestic front. “Cases of child sex abuse (CSA) within the community are far more prevalent than cases of tourism related sexual abuse,” says Nishtha Desai. However, can we afford to ignore tourism related CSA? “It is important to address the problem and to prevent the institutionalisation of tourism related CSA,” adds Desai. Thierry believes that paedophilia is one end of CSA, where the person “once a paedophile will always remain a paedophile, hence is far more harmful than a child sex abuser.” He warns, “TSOs usually keep a back up of child pornography on their computers, so that once they return to their home country they can look at images. Plus, they will always look for children they can abuse at their home country. They have a number of victims, cutting across geographical boundaries.”

Our laws are full of loopholes. For instance, who will trace the several “missing” pedophiles in India? Why cannot the pedophiles be arrested when they are “lying low” waiting to strike in some other part of the country? Why is there a delay in prosecution? Why isn’t corruption among “lower ranks” of police at tourist destinations checked when the higher ranks and general public are aware of what is going on? What about keeping check on those Indian paedophiles who were convicted for child sex abuse in the US and deported to India, under Operation Predator, a crackdown by the US department of homeland security and immigration and customs enforcement ICE? They roam free. Sources from the CBI say, “ Indian investigating agencies and the police have little to do with the issue of deported criminals. The country’s legal system has to deal with the problem.” According to Chennai based advocate Geeta Ramaseshan, “There are issues of jurisdiction involved here. There has to be some act of crime in the country if a person has to be prosecuted.”

Also, the legal system, according to Ramaseshan does not use the word “paedophile” at all. “The law still has to a define a huge area in this respect. There are a few bills pending on the same issue. A lot of understanding of the existing laws is needed to bring the changes. I think, more important than the issue of bails are matters like evidence, the defining of the offence against children. Then, sensitisation of the judiciary is required. Remember, punishment for crime is a defensive mechanism. More important is to prevent it.” She points out.

An expert, on the condition of anonymity, has a few suggestions to make. He says, “To improve the situation in our country, we should first locate the missing paedophile-suspects. Next, we should be strict with laws and their implementation on paedophiles; like the kind of laws we have for people involved with narcotics. Paedophiles should be arrested, prosecuted and convicted in time and should be banned from entering India after they serve their sentence here. They should just not be given time to lie low. Also, there’s need for more advanced forensic labs in tourism destination states to handle such investigations.”

A volunteer from an NGO based in Tamil Nadu rues the fact that the issue of TSOs is of low priority in the list of crimes for the government and the police force. The Home Ministry should take some steps in this direction,” says she. #We are watching #Goa authorities have displayed warnings to suspected-paedophiles at various beaches. But due to the scanty presence of tourism police on Goa beaches, “unhealthy” interaction between tourists and children on the beaches goes unchecked.

At the Vagator beach, one of the few lesser crowded beaches in North Goa, “Sharon Stone” settles down on sand with a bowl full of strawberries. “You can call me Sharon Stone. My real name is difficult for foreigners like you to learn,” says she. “Anjelina”, “Kate”, “Julia” (usually from states like Rajasthan, Gujarat and Karnataka) when they get back to selling sarongs, knick-knacks, souvenirs — throw names of hotels, middlemen, and sometimes phone numbers. No cop in sight, the only way to cut short the nuisance on beaches is to approach the restaurant owners (who provide the sun beds); do warn tourists and vendors against “any objectionable act”. From Vagator to Palolem, from Calangute to Colva, the trick really works. This way, visitors and local people can really help curb the problem at such open spaces. However, there’s another trend which Goans seem to ignore ; of single parents landing with their kids at shacks and beach side hotels. These tourists hire a local lad for “baby sitting” during the day; during the evenings, the local lad doubles up for the other job.

At Puri, another tourist destination which came in light for TSOs last year, Thierry says, “things usually pick up during the season time (November to January).” “I have got information on a few foreigners who take interest in clicking pictures of naked children on the beach. I just want to tell the TSOs that we are watching them.” he adds. Thierry believes that by being alert and watchful, you can really mount pressure on the paedophiles to move out of the locality.

TSOs-hotel-travel industry: The Nexus

NGOs and child protection organizations over the world are aware of the nexus between TSOs, hotels and the transport industry. Taking clues from the trends, ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes), a network of organizations working worldwide to eliminate sexual exploitation of children has suggested a “code of conduct” for the hotel and travel industry. The code is currently implemented by 17 countries including Sri Lanka, Thailand and India. ECPAT runs programmes like, in-flight videos to warn travelers against child sex abuse. Air France, Corsair, Nouvelles Frontieres, Lufthansa and Austrian Air are already using it. “ECPAT USA has designed and distributed an educational brochure to inform Americans about the extra-territorial provisions of US law against child sex tourism,” says their fact sheet. In India, ECPAT’s ‘Please Disturb, an Inter-sectoral response to Traveling Sex Offenders’, was presented by Tulir in Chennai last year, to build awareness among the tourism and travel sector here. “We expect a lot from the hotel and travel industry in this regard. Their inputs can really help us crack down on such cases,” adds Amal Raj.

The vastness of our country and the sluggish judicial system shouldn’t really discourage any hope for improvement. So, the next time you see a suspicious element on the prowl at one of the tourist destinations, help authorities “mount pressure” on him. TSOs will then think twice before “deflecting” to India.

Around 70 per cent children don’t report abuse More than 1 million children are exploited in the global commercial sex trade each year

An estimated 30 percent of the sex workers in Phnom Penh are under the age of 18 Out of the 9800 child sex offenders arrested in US under Operation Predator, 85 per cent are foreigners (including Indians)

Roughly around 10,000 paedophiles come to Goa each year and 1000 children are at risk in a single area in Goa Number of children involved in the sex industry in India in 1994 according to ECPAT : 400,000

A rehabilitation plan for trafficking victims
26 May, 2007 l 0214 hrs ISTlHimanshi Dhawan
TIMES NEWS NETWORKSMS NEWS to 8888 for latest updates
NEW DELHI: A draft plan for rehabilitation of trafficking victims has proposed confiscation of assets and proceeds of brothel-owners and traffickers to finance a ‘compensation fund' for the victims. The fund will be used for legal and medical protection of victims. This is part of the integrated action plan to prevent and combat human trafficking with special focus on children and women drafted by the ministry of women and child development. The plan, that has been okayed by the Planning Commission, is likely to be implemented in the next few months. Trafficking of human beings is one of the fastest growing forms of criminal activity generating unaccountable profits annually. The ministry is working in consultation with ministry of home affairs, National Commission for Women and National Human Rights Commission on the issue. The draft plan recognises non-brothel based exploitation as a major emerging threat where trafficked persons are forced to pose as attendants, masseurs and bartenders. India as a growing destination for child pornography and sex tourism is also a focus area and the WCD ministry has proposed that special attention must be paid to vulnerable areas like massage parlours, escort services and party hostesses to prevent linkage between trafficking and non-brothel based prostitution. The ministry has suggested that special measures be taken for rapid identification and protection of child victims while creating specialised cells at the Central, state and district levels for rescuing victims. Amongst the recommendations placed by the government in tackling the problem are setting up of a confidential database on traffickers including brothel-owners, gharwalis and cultivating a network of informants for specific information on trafficking activity. Besides medical examination of victims after their rescue, the government has proposed rehabilitation, re-integration and repatriation of victims. The draft plan proposes the need for alternative institutions and non-government organisations as opposed to police and government organisations.

Anti Trafficking rescue operation in Bangalore city

Date:11/05/2007 URL:
Andhra Pradesh - Others
Sex racket busted
Staff Reporter
MACHILIPATNAM: The Nuzvid police on Thursday busted a woman trafficking racket and rescued 12 girls who were being forced to enter the flesh trade in Bangalore, besides arresting five persons, including two women, on the charge of trafficking.
12 rescued
The police arrested K. Raju (44) of Rajahmundry, Chandan Gowd (22) and Hakki Jagadeesh, both from Karnataka, Sunitha of Nuzvid and Sirisha of Hanuman Junction.
Of the 12 victims, four were from Karnataka, two each from Nuzvid in Krishna district and Kolkata, one each from Vijayawada, Rajahmundry, Nepal and Mumbai.
With the help of the State CID, women protection cell and the Bangalore police, the police went to Bangalore and raided a brothel at Vydhyanarayanapuram, from where they rescued the victims and arrested the five accused

IRIN
Humanitarian news and analysis
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Nepal: Impoverished Nepalese girls tricked into prostitution
Source: IRIN Asia
May 9, 2007-

For the past three years, 25-year-old Sita Maskey has beenfighting a court battle in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, to punishalleged trafficker Rekha Karki, whom she says tricked her into forcedprostitution in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates."I am destroyed. I was hoping to help rid my family of poverty but all wasin vain," Maskey told IRIN, recounting her story of how she sold the familyfarmland and house to pay for the travel expenses and for the agent who hadconvinced her she could earn huge amounts as a baby-sitter in Dubai.Maskey trusted Karki who had come to visit her family in her remote Ledangvillage of Morang district, nearly 600km east of the capital, and told herabout job opportunities in Saudi Arabia - where she had already sent manygirls from several villages - as well as Sharjah and Dubai. Maskey saidthat, unknown to her, Karki had opened a number of brothels in rentedhouses in Dubai.Karki had lied to her that she was working for a shipping company in Dubai,where she could easily help find her a job. But Maskey said that once shereached Karki's flat in the city, she was tied up, beaten and threatenedwith death if she tried to escape.After nearly eight months of forced prostitution, Maskey managed to escapewith the help of an Indian illegal migrant worker. She went to seek helpfrom the Nepalese embassy but the officials initially told her that theycould not help her.Eventually, with the help of local police, the embassy officials helped toreturn her to Nepal but failed to take any action to find the trafficker.VulnerableMaskey's case is an example of how vulnerable Nepalese girls and womenstill are at the hands of traffickers, said local anti-traffickingactivists. They said trafficking has changed and the victims are now nolonger trafficked only to India's cities."We have several cases of women who were forced into prostitution incountries where the demand for labour is high," said activist BindraMaharjan from the Women's Rehabilitation Centre (WOREC), a local NGO thathas been helping to rehabilitate victims and assist in legal action againstthe traffickers.She said most of these victims come from impoverished families in ruralareas where there is little employment.To access the complete article, please visit
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=72037

Report: India has almost 3M prostitutes

NewsTrack - Top News

Published: May 8, 2007 at 7:54 PM E-mail Story Print Preview License

Report: India has almost 3M prostitutes
NEW DELHI, May 8 (UPI) -- India's minister for women and child development said Tuesday the country has an estimated 2.8 million prostitutes and the number is rising.
Renuka Chowdhury presented a study on "Girls-Women in prostitution in India" to the lower house of Parliament. She said more than one-third of Indian prostitutes entered the profession before age 18, the Press Trust of India reported.

She told lawmakers her ministry runs homes to provide shelter, food, clothing, counseling, rehabilitation and other facilities to victims of commercial sexual exploitation. She said another project is being implemented to combat trafficking in women and children for sexual exploitation

The 21st-Century Slave Trade
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
ALONG THE INDIA/NEPAL BORDER
Anyone who thinks that the word “slavery” is hyperbole when used to describe human trafficking today should meet Meena Khatun. She not only endured the unbearable, but has also shown that a slave trader’s greed sometimes is no match for a mother’s love.
Human trafficking is the big emerging human rights issue for the 21st century, but it’s an awful term, a convoluted euphemism. As Meena’s story underscores, the real issue is slavery.
Meena was kidnapped from her village in north India by a trafficker and eventually locked up in a 13-girl brothel in the town of Katihar. When she was perhaps 11 or 12 — she remembers only that it was well before she had begun to menstruate — the slaver locked her in a room with a white-haired customer who had bought her virginity. She cried and fought, so the mother and two sons who owned the brothel taught Meena a lesson.
“They beat me mercilessly, with a belt, sticks and iron rods,” Meena recalled. Still, Meena resisted customers, despite fresh beatings and threats to cut her in pieces.
Finally, the brothel owners forced her to drink alcohol until she was drunk. When she passed out, they gave her to a customer.
When she woke up, Meena finally accepted her fate as a prostitute. “I thought, ‘Now I am ruined,’ ” she remembered, “so I gave in.”
Meena thus joined the ranks of some 10 million children prostituted around the world — more are in India than in any other country. The brothels of India are the slave plantations of the 21st century.
Every night, Meena was forced to have sex with 10 to 25 customers. Meena’s owners also wanted to breed her, as is common in Indian brothels. One purpose is to have boys to be laborers and girls to be prostitutes, and a second is to have hostages to force the mother to cooperate.
So Meena soon became pregnant. The resulting baby girl, Naina, was taken from Meena after birth, as was a son, Vivek, who was born a year later.
The two children were raised mostly apart from Meena. Meena alerted the police to her children’s captivity (the police were uninterested), so her owners decided to kill her.
At that, Meena fled to a town several hours away and eventually married a pharmacist who protected her. Every few months, Meena would go back to the brothel and beg for her children.
She was never allowed inside, and the children were told that their mother had died. Still, Naina and Vivek regularly heard their mother’s shouts and pleas and occasionally caught glimpses of her. Other enslaved girls told them that she was indeed their mother.
When Naina turned about 12, the brothel owners prepared to sell her as well. At that Vivek, who was being forced to do the brothel’s laundry, protested vigorously. The owners beat Vivek, an extremely bright boy who was never allowed to go to school, but he continued to plead that his big sister not be sold. Finally, he escaped to search for his mother, in hopes that she could do something. Eventually, they found each other.
They received help from a terrific anti-trafficking organization called Apne Aap (http://www.apneaap.org/), run by a former journalist named Ruchira Gupta. Ms. Gupta covered trafficking and was so horrified by what she found that she quit her job and devoted her life to fighting the brothel owners.
Ms. Gupta agitated for a police raid (apparently the first such raid on behalf of a trafficked mother ever in the state of Bihar) that rescued Naina last month. The girl, who is now about 13, is still recovering in a hospital from severe beatings and internal injuries.
The brothel is still operating, and the police have not arrested the main traffickers. But the brothel owners are threatening to kill Meena, her children and the Apne Aap staff, because they are potential witnesses in a criminal case against the traffickers. One Apne Aap staff member was stabbed a few days ago.
But whatever happens to Meena or Vivek, they are in the vanguard of a new global abolitionist movement.
This is an issue crying out for world leaders — and community groups — to seize and run with. President Bush has pressed the issue more than his predecessors, but he could do much more. If a little boy like Vivek can stand up to modern slavers, why can’t world leaders do the same?
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HINDUSTAN TIMES

Friday, April 20, 2007
Trafficking in misery

The fact that an elected representative was caught trying to smuggle two people out of the country has evoked shock and horror. The BJP MP from Gujarat took money to facilitate their illegal migration to Canada, though the plan was foiled by alert airport authorities. This is the story of thousands of Indians who try to flee to what they feel are greener pastures abroad. Poor families often stake all they have to send a member abroad in the hope that his or her earnings will be an insurance for their future. For each person who succeeds, there are many who fail when touts decamp with their money, leaving them to an uncertain and impoverished future at home.
As illegal migration from developing countries to the developed world grows, barricades have come up. The European Union, which is an attractive magnet for illegal migrants, has put in place stringent checks to ward off unwanted guest workers. Yet, they keep coming in droves, driven by conditions of poverty or civil unrest at home. Indian migrants have been caught in locations as far removed as Belarus to a boat adrift the Mediterranean trying to reach the shores of Europe. The government needs to examine seriously why people are willing to risk their lives to get away from here. Economic necessity is one reason. But illegal migrants often find themselves no better off in other countries as they are not governed by the labour regulations that offer safeguards like minimum wages and health insurance.
The human trafficking business, of which illegal migration is a major component, is worth Rs 36.77 crore in India. A flourishing racket exists in which Indian women domestics are sent to the Gulf. Mostly from Kerala, these women are literally sold into bonded labour by touts. They are made to work long hours in inhuman conditions with no legal recourse. Many end up returning broken and disillusioned. Migration cannot be stopped. But the Government of India must try and play a greater role in facilitating migration in a transparent and effective manner. The Sri Lankan government encourages migration, but supervised by officials and not through touts. If we were to do this, we might well be able to rid ourselves of the shadowy touts who run the multi-million dollar migration trade.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=d24d0b94-52ba-43b5-882d-0cdfa30c2084&igration trade

Participation elicited for police awards
The Imphal Free PressIMPHAL, Apr 9:

The Union ministry of home affairs has asked the DGPs, IGPs and CPOs of various states of the country including Manipur to disseminate information among the police officers working under them to elicit their participation in the competition for the Webber Seavey Award for Quality in Law Enforcement.

The Webber Seavey Award for Quality in Law Enforcement was created in the year 1992 by the International Association of Chiefs of police (IACP) and Motorola with an objective to give opportunity for earning recognition to the police department for its hard work and initiative.The award recognizes innovative projects in areas such as community policing, internal security, crime prevention, highway safely, state-of-the art technology and other areas of law enforcement. The projects should depict quality and excellence in law enforcement with results that have been sustained for a minimum of one year.

Since inception, more than 1,800 municipal, country, state, and federal agencies and sheriff`s departments have participated in this distinguished programme.A project `Aasra` submitted by the Nalgonda district police, Andhra Pradesh, was selected as one of the top three finalists in 2006 and Mahesh Bhagwat, superintendent, Nalgonda police, received recognition at the annual IACP conference held in Boston, Massachusetts (MA), USA from October 14 to 18, 2006.`Parivartan`, a Delhi police project on community policing, was selected as one of the 25 semifinalists.

Every year, the winners/finalists are intimated directly and requested to receive the awards in person. The top three winners receive awards at the IACP conference general assembly while 25 award finalists are honuored at the Webber Seavey breakfast.

http://www.kanglaonline.com/index.php?template=headline&newsid=37244&typeid=1

Over 53% children face sexual abuse: Survey

The Times of India Online
Printed from timesofindia.indiatimes.com > India
[ 10 Apr, 2007 0000hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
NEW DELHI: In a shocking revelation, a government commissioned survey has found that more than 53% of children in India are subjected to sexual abuse, but most don’t report the assaults to anyone. The survey, released on Monday and which covered different forms of child abuse — physical, sexual and emotional — as well as female child neglect, found that two out of every three children have been physically abused. Parents and relatives, persons known to the child or in a position of trust and responsibility were mostly found to be the perpetrators of child sexual abuse in the country. According to the women and child development ministry-sponsored report, which assumes greater significance in the backdrop of the Nithari killings that brought into focus the issue of children’s safety, those in the age group of 5-12 years reported higher levels of abuse. While releasing the survey, women and child development minister Renuka Chowdhury said, "Child abuse is shrouded in secrecy and there is a conspiracy of silence around the entire subject. The ministry is working on a new law for protection of children’s rights by clearly specifying offences against children and stiffening punishments." The survey, carried out across 13 states and with a sample size of 12,447, revealed that 53.22% of children reported having faced one or more forms of sexual abuse, with Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Assam and Delhi reporting the highest percentage of such incidents. In 50% of child abuse cases, the abusers were known to the child or were in a position of trust and responsibility and most children did not report the matter to anyone. The survey, sponsored by WCD ministry and carried out by the NGO Prayas in association with Unicef and Save the Children, found that over 50% children were subjected to one or the other form of physical abuse and more boys than girls were abused physically. The first-ever survey on child abuse in the country disclosed that nearly 65% of schoolchildren reported facing corporal punishment — beatings by teachers — mostly in government schools. Of children physically abused in families, in 88.6% of the cases, it was the parents who were the perpetrators. More than 50% had been sexually abused in ways that ranged from severe — such as rape or fondling — to milder forms of molestation that included forcible kissing. The study also interviewed 2,324 young adults between the ages of 18 and 24, almost half of whom reported being physically or sexually abused as children. When it comes to emotional abuse, every second child was subjected to emotional assault and in 83% of the cases, parents were the abusers.

Using minors in prostitution is a billion dollar industry in the city

Haima Desshpande Friday, March 09, 2007 20:46 IST


For most, Mumbai remains a city of dreams. But, for some, it has become a place full of nightmares.In recent years, the financial capital of the country has emerged as one of the leading markets for trafficked minors who engage in prostitution or, in other words, the commercial sexual abuse of a minor.

According to estimates released by international agencies, trafficking of minor girls is a $1-billion-a-year industry, and it is thriving due to increased sex tourism in Mumbai, Goa and adjoining coastal areas. Edging past North-Eastern states, poverty-stricken rural areas of Maharashtra — Beed, Latur, Solapur, Jalgaon, Ahmednagar, Nandurbar, Chandrapur, Washim, Akola, Buldhana, Dhule and the Konkan region — have emerged as one of the biggest suppliers of minors.States such as Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa have also opened up as the new supply markets, says a Mumbai police source.

As instances of HIV and AIDS reach alarming proportions, demand for younger, pre-puberty girls has hit an all-time high. Girls as little as seven and eight-years-old are being forced into prostitution, both in the red-light areas and as “professional” call girls (always accompanied by an adult), according to a DNA investigation.Affluent businessmen, some members of the film and advertising industries, diamond merchants and politicians form the “select” clientele who source minors.“Trafficking in minor girls has seen an estimated 30 per cent increase from previous years,” says a social activist working at Kamatipura — the city’s most notorious red-light district.

“Poverty due to prolonged drought, mounting farm debts, unemployment and lack of livelihood are the triggering factors, which are forcing parents to send their daughters out of town for employment.”Though migration is also emerging as an important aspect in the minor flesh trade, numbers entering the flesh trade through this route are considerably smaller, explains the activist.“Even when girls are rescued, families are unwilling to take them back,” says the police source. “This has become a common story in the rural areas.” According to conservative estimates released by NGOs, the flesh trade in Mumbai “employs” about four lakh individuals. “Nearly 45 per cent — 1.8 lakh — are minors,” says Triveni Acharya, Founder-President of the Rescue Foundation, an organisation working with commercial sex workers.

Nepal and Bangladesh are the biggest exporters of trafficked minors and women in South Asia. Though the police estimate there are about 35,000 Nepalese nationals in Mumbai’s red-light areas, social activists insist the number is closer to one lakh. A majority of them are minors.As per UNICEF estimates, about 12 lakh children are trafficked across international borders each year. Save The Children (India) states that clients today prefer girls as young as 10 years.“The victims are subjected to the worst form of torture if they do not ‘perform’ with the clients,” says another social activist. “Most are denied food, water and toilet facilities, and regular beatings are an ‘integral’ part of their lives.”Every minor girl is subjected to a probation period of three years. During this time, she is not allowed to meet or interact with others in the brothel, and kept in a locked room. The probation period is the gestation time for the brothel keeper to rake in the money.Shockingly, the same people who are supposed to uphold the laws of the country are the ones involved in the trade, says a social activist. “How else do some rescued minors find their way back to the same brothel?” she says. “This trade cannot survive without patrons in the Mumbai police. This is the main reason why the police are incapable of handling child prostitution.”And, it is all about the profits in this business.

A fair minor fetches between Rs1-1.5 lakh for a night, and a dusky one is sold for between Rs75,000-1.25 lakh. An adult always accompanies the child to the rendez-vous point, and the clandestine destination is subject to several changes to throw off decoy agents. Though several NGOs are actively involved in rescuing minors, the magnitude of the problem keeps growing. Since 1986, the age of girls entering prostitution has gradually declined. In 1998, the average age of girls was 18 years. By 2000, it was 15. In 2003, minors as young as 12 were freely available.Now, the police source says clients have been asking for minors as young as 8 years old. In 1998, NGO Prerna brought together a consortium of like-minded organisations to address the issue of trafficking of minors.The group formed the Network Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking, to begin a dialogue with women working in the red-light areas. Today, the organisation has about 250 members spread across the state. Most work in the districts from where girls are trafficked.The Rescue Foundation had till December 2006 organised 50 rescue operations. Over 700 people — about 60 per cent were minors — were rescued from the red-light areas of Mumbai and Pune.“The fear of HIV has increased demand for minors,” says Acharya. “However, it is not easy for clients to get them. They are only sourced to a select clientele known to the brothel keepers. Fearing torture, minors do not dare to venture out of the locked rooms.”

Though RR Patil, Deputy Chief Minister and in-charge of Home Department, mooted the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) to include brothel owners, pimps and others found guilty of trafficking women and children, it has yet to be implemented. During 2004 and 2005, the police sealed 21 brothels for housing minors soliciting clients on their premises. Currently, the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act and provisions of the Indian Penal Code punishes offenders. If a minor girl is found on the premises of a dubious establishment, the said premise is sealed for a maximum period of three years, and the accused can be punished for a minimum period of 10 years. The Mumbai police recently launched a special juvenile aid police unit (JAPU) to tackle the menace. The unit has been staffed with trained personnel.(Inputs by Dayanand Kamath)

For sale
Fair minor: Between Rs1-1.5 lakh for a night

Dusky minor: Between Rs75,000-1.25 lakh for a night

Age profile
1998: Girls as young as 18 years

2000: Girls as young as 15 years

2003: Girls as young as 12 years

Today: Girls as young as 8 years

The horrors of the trade Client listAffluent businessmen, members of film and advertising industries, diamond merchants and politicians form the “select” clientele.Shocking riseTrafficking in minor girls has seen an estimated 30 per cent increase from previous years. The dark sideVictims are subjected to the worst form of torture if they do not ‘perform’ with the clients. Most are denied food, water and toilet facilities. Regular beatings are an ‘integral’ part of their lives

India set for tough child abuse law

NDTV CorrespondentWatch story
Monday, March 19, 2007 (New Delhi):
India's National Commission for Children on Monday backed tough measures to protect children from abuse. Its chairperson Shanta Sinha said children should become a part of national conscience to prevent abuse.Her biggest tool could be the new Child Protection Bill. The draft of the Bill is awaiting approval by the Cabinet. "The first task is to know who the victims are," Sinha said in an exlusive interview to NDTV. Non-bailable offenceForty-two per cent of India's population are children and crimes against them will soon become a non-bailable offence. The legislation will provide authorities with a mechanism to identify and punish offenders for crimes against children.The Ministry for Women and Child Development feels existing laws are inadequate to recognise and penalise offenders. Sinha says trafficking and sexual exploitation of children should be on top of the nation's agenda. "There is just no data, if we don't know how many children are victims, how will we formulate policies?" "It's a monumental task but need to collate data of how many children are missing how many are trafficked," said Sinha, a winner of the Magsaysay Award. According to the draft of the Child Protection Bill: It will be compulsory for doctors, teachers and social workers to report cases of child abuse to the authorities. Sources say while exploitation of women and crimes like rape have stringent laws there is little protection for boys from abuse – an area that the new bill will address.ExploitationThe current laws also do not recognise exploitation of children either through sex tourism, child labour or violence against children including emotional abuse or instances like deliberate starvation.Sinha says children between 0-6 age group are not on anyone's radar "Children of all ages are important till six years of age."Till now laws related to children have had minimal impact. But recent incident involving murder and rape of children in Nithari near Delhi exposes the inability to protect them from abuse.

AP trafficking victims will be paid to testify
Karn Kowshik
Posted online: Wednesday, March 14, 2007 at 0000 hrs IST
HYDERABAD, MARCH 13The idea is to help victims of trafficking help themselves.
Many cases against traffickers in humans in Andhra Pradesh fall apart because the witnesses, usually the victims themselves, don’t want to testify. And it’s mainly because they do not have the money to appear at
hearings.
So for the first time in the country, the Andhra police are heading a UN agency plan to compensate witnesses for coming to testify. They will get fare to and from their village to the court, said P Umapathi, inspector general of Women’s Protection Cell. “We also propose to give them daily minimum wages for the period that they are in court. They will get some money for child maintenance, too,” he said.
The court currently pays witnesses only Rs 8 for food.
The money for the new initiative is coming from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The agency will give each of the five worst-hit districts Rs 5 lakh for a year. “While it will be funded by UNODC to start with, the state will eventually take over the programme,” said Umapathi.
He said the aim is to introduce the compensation scheme to all 23 districts. The payment scheme will also cover men who appear as witnesses.
Andhra has the highest number of cases of trafficking in women in the country. Records show that last year, 1,431 arrests were made in 458 cases under the Immoral Trafficking Act by the Andhra police across the country.
While the police are still compiling figures on those rescued, an official here said that in the last three months, they have had 300 rescues and a similar
number of arrests. About a quarter of those saved
are minors.
The police here say victims of trafficking often shun the courts because they are unsure about what the police are doing for them. In many case they want to go back to the brothel or the pimp who they were with, for reasons ranging from financial security to fear of being ostracized at home.
But the main reason, said a senior Women’s Cell official, is that victims lose their daily wages when they come to court to testify. “They have to spend money on transport and food, as well as food for their children,” he said

Sunday, 10th March,2007


Worst crime, gross profit
Sex slaves-I

New Delhi, March 10: Trafficking of women and children has emerged as the third largest billion-dollar industry after the arms trade and drugs. Researchers estimate that Kamathipura, in Mumbai, alone generates at least $400 million annually with 100,000 prostitutes servicing six customers per day at Rs 100 per customer.

Transactions in prostitution are reported to be grossing Rs 40,000 crores per annum with revenues being shared between procurers, pimps and brothel keepers, and the police. A massive study undertaken by the Institute of Social Sciences (ISS) and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) highlights how traffickers have emerged as the kingpins of this operation.At the top of the hierarchy are the master traffickers, whose identities remain largely unknown. These are then assisted by field-level purchasers, transporters, master operators, pimps and procurers, and the crime syndicate, which involves owners and managers of the brothels where most of these trafficked women and children end up being forced to live.


Most of the time, traffickers and brothel owners have remained an anonymous lot. But the ISI decided to track down these merchants of the human trade. Assured anonymity, 160 traffickers spoke at length about their modus operandi. A fifth of these were from Andhra Pradesh while the others came from Bihar, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, West Bengal and UP. Most of those interviewed were in their mid-20s, though the researchers came across two traffickers, from Maharashtra and Goa, who were just 18 years of age. Interestingly, many of them could converse in more than three languages, allowing them the freedom to move from one State to another with impunity.


Trafficking, they admitted, was a lucrative, low-investment and high-profit business. Girls were being purchased for as little as Rs 1,000 per girl though the majority admitted they spent around Rs 5,000 or less to purchase a girl. It was only in exceptional circumstances that they forked out as much Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 for a girl with payments being made on a commission basis.


The study cited the example of “AM”, a well-known trafficker from Muzzafarpur, who is at present supplying women in Siliguri, Darjeeling, Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnea and Ataria. On an average, “AM” traffics 40 women and children every month, earning over Rs 10 lakhs just from the sale of these women. During the festival season, the number of women can go up to 60. He is reported to own three houses in Siliguri alone apart from earning properties in several other cities.


On an average, each of these traffickers had trafficked over 42 women and children. They then admitted to having sexually assaulted their victims. Forty-two per cent of them admitted to having abused between three and 10 of their victims while 37 per cent admitted to having abused more than 10 victims. It was only after they had sexually exploited the victims that they would hand them over to a brothel to start soliciting clients.


While many of the traffickers pretended to have petty businesses which they maintained as a front, almost 20 per cent of them doubled up as sex workers. The study has also computed their earnings. The 160 interviewed had a total annual income of Rs 2,77,46,000. Their annual expenditure was around Rs 50,000 while they grossed a profit of around Rs 2 lakhs. In the majority of cases, the traffickers admit to first developing a relationship with members of the family before actually trafficking the girl child or a woman. The study highlighted how in 35 per cent of the cases family members and relatives helped facilitate this entire operation with parents, in-laws and husbands doing so in lieu of receiving some payment.


These traffickers confided that in the majority of cases, the women/girls were being sold because of poverty; in approximately 10 per cent cases they were being handed over to them out of greed. But they also mentioned that 15 per cent of the victims came from the upper strata and would be lured with the promise that they would be helped get a foothold in the Hindi film industry.


Traffickers admit they do not need to use coercion or force to kidnap a victim. Rather, they and their informers are on the lookout for women and children who appear to be vulnerable and so can be lured easily. Young girls continue to be the main target, especially since clients express a keenness to have sex with “virgin” girls. The majority admitted to having trafficked children in order to sexually exploit them.


Many admitted to exploiting women and children for pornographic reasons. Children from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh were being trafficked out of the country to West Asia, the UK, Korea and the Philippines for pornographic reasons. If there was one question they refused to respond to, it was regarding their international links with traffickers. Even though some admitted travelling abroad to buy and sell girls, they often circumvented the question by saying it was to arrange “dance and song programmes”.


Countries frequented by traffickers included Nepal, Dubai, Bangkok, Kenya, the UK and South Africa, though some respondents admitted to sending male children to Saudi Arabia in order to make them beg.

NEW INDIAN EXPRESS

Daughters on sale
Sunday March 10, 2007 18:13 IST
http://www.newindpr
Raka Sudhakar Rao and Vikram Sharma

In December 2005, 16-year-old Anjamma (name changed) was sold by her brother to agents in Kurnool and was brought to Hyderabad. In spite of her resistance she was forced into flesh trade by the traffickers. Between December 2005 and September 2006, she was gang-raped several times. Finally, she was rescued from Secunderabad in December last year. In the first information report, a total of 16 traffickers were named, nine women and seven men, but the police could arrest only two. In a small town called Karepalli in Khammam district, you are likely to spot a BMW. The owners of this car are three sisters, aged between 23 and 25, who 'struck' gold in Mumbai and got the swanky automobile as a gift for their 'customer care'. Once in two or three months, they drive down from Mumbai in this car. They also have their own house, where the parents and a brother live. Stories of Anjamma and of the girls moving in BMW speak volumes of how thousands of girls are being trafficked from Andhra Pradesh each year. But the real story is that the traffickers are mostly their parents, husbands and brothers! Andhra Pradesh woke up to this reality recently, following the rescue operations taken up by the State CID. Starting from January this year, the State Police, especially the Crime Investigation Department (CID) has rescued over 200 victims of trafficking and has arrested nearly 200 traffickers, from some pockets of Maharashtra, including Bhiwandi and Chandrapur. It was only after these rescue operations that the police learnt that many of the victims were sold by their family members and in some cases, their own parents. The trend of parents or other members of the family selling their daughters or sisters has been going on for the past two decades. Most of the girls come from the Lambada tribe, where flesh trade has become an accepted practice within the community. The police coyly refers to it as "family tradition." According to one officer: "It is common for a man in this community to get married for a second time if the first wife is unable to give birth to a male child. Therefore, the married women believe in producing more number of children in order to give birth to a male child so that their husbands do not marry again. In the process, the females, when they grow up, are sold." A study shows that in five mandals around Kadiri in Anantapur district, three in Kadapa and three in Chittoor district, this has been serious business for several years now. "The girls know that they will be sold some day and what is in store for them. They are sold for anything between Rs 20,000 and Rs 70,000. The girls are sold in Maharashtra or Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Delhi," police officials say. Nobody knows how many girls have been trafficked so far and or how many are still in those dingy brothels somewhere out there. What the police do have is a list of traffickers active in Andhra. Surprisingly, women form a major chunk of traffickers with over 350 of them listed out by the sleuths. There are 157 men who are operating from various parts of the State. Some of them have been arrested, but there are many who continue to do business with these girls. The trafficking network in the state is very well organised and very well-knit. "Poverty and illiteracy are the two main factors that drive these girls into brothels. But the main problem is the demand for the Andhra girls. As long as there is demand, supply is bound to be there," officials say. Nearly, 30 percent of trafficked victims in the country are reportedly from Andhra Pradesh. Approximately, 15,000 girls and women have been trafficked from East and West Godavari districts alone and most of them are Dalits or from Dommari, Bogam and Kalavanthula communities. Out of the 15,000 FIRs registered for crime against women (per year), 537 cases were registered against traffickers in 2005. In 2006, 195 cases were registered and 780 people, including women traffickers, were arrested. "In the last seven months, charge-sheets were filed in 140 cases, nine cases resulted in conviction and 10 cases ended in acquittals. Unfortunately witnesses are not coming forward to depose due to lack of witness protection and support programmes," officials say. The police are also planning to register cases against such husbands who get married for the second time only for want of a son. They are in the process of studying the law under which cases can be registered. By the end of the year, the State Police hopes to arrest 1,000 more traffickers, prosecute them under Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act and other sections of IPC, rescue atleast 1,000 victims, set up witness protection and victim support and provide toll-free Helpline, trauma care and counselling. The police hopes to conduct sensitisation programmes for officers deployed in problem areas, and establish a network with Women and Child Welfare Department, Juvenile Justice Department and NGO's. The police has also established anti-trafficking units in Hyderabad, Anantapur, and Eluru in West Godavari district and plans to set up more such units in other parts of the State. Thanks to the massive trafficking business, in some parts of the State, especially villages, young men in some communities are unable to find suitable girls and one can see quite a few 30-plus bachelors in these villages. How they operate K Haribabu works as a junior assistant in Tangutur mandal revenue office. He has been trafficking women, especially minor girls, and has supplied them from Guntur, Krishna and Khammam districts to Bangalore and Hubli. He has five operatives working for him. All were arrested in June 2006 and the police rescued five girls, who were being sent to Karnataka. K Baji and Subrahmanyam Kumar are a team. They caught the women in their net by offering them roles in movies and sent them to Chennai. Baji used to take the the girls to Vijayawada and Subrahamanyam used to pick them up from there. They were assisted by Karnati Usha, who supplied the girls to Chittemmayi of Puranandampet in Vijayawada. The latter was running a brothel and had expanded her operations to supplying girls to Chennai. They were arrested in December 2006. How they are caught On January 2 this year, the Guntur police arrested one Mastan and rescued some girls who were being trafficked to Chennai. These girls were being brought from Tadepalligudem in West Godavari and taken to Hyderabad and Chennai via Guntur and Tirupati. On January 4, Guntur police conducted raids in Tadepalligudem and arrested five more persons. Mastan started singing and the police came to know of the gang's links in Chennai. They trapped Cherukuri Mohana Rao alias Raju who forced the women brought from various parts of Andhra Pradesh into prostitution. He also used to send some girls to Muscat, where his daughter Varalakshmi supplied girls to prospective customers. The police rescued three girls from East and West Godavari, who were waiting for their visas to fly off to Muscat.. On January 12, based on information obtained from the arrested persons, the police raided an apartment in Saroornagar area in Hyderabad and arrested pimps and brokers. The police recovered a diary containing telephone numbers of sex workers. On the same day, the police raided a premises in Mehdipatnam in Hyderabad and arrested two persons and rescued two girls from Eluru of West Godavari district. At the end of this operation police arrested 22 people and rescued 10 girls.
In December 2005, 16-year-old Anjamma (name changed) was sold by her brother to agents in Kurnool and was brought to Hyderabad. In spite of her resistance she was forced into flesh trade by the traffickers. Between December 2005 and September 2006, she was gang-raped several times. Finally, she was rescued from Secunderabad in December last year. In the first information report, a total of 16 traffickers were named, nine women and seven men, but the police could arrest only two. In a small town called Karepalli in Khammam district, you are likely to spot a BMW. The owners of this car are three sisters, aged between 23 and 25, who 'struck' gold in Mumbai and got the swanky automobile as a gift for their 'customer care'. Once in two or three months, they drive down from Mumbai in this car. They also have their own house, where the parents and a brother live. Stories of Anjamma and of the girls moving in BMW speak volumes of how thousands of girls are being trafficked from Andhra Pradesh each year. But the real story is that the traffickers are mostly their parents, husbands and brothers! Andhra Pradesh woke up to this reality recently, following the rescue operations taken up by the State CID. Starting from January this year, the State Police, especially the Crime Investigation Department (CID) has rescued over 200 victims of trafficking and has arrested nearly 200 traffickers, from some pockets of Maharashtra, including Bhiwandi and Chandrapur. It was only after these rescue operations that the police learnt that many of the victims were sold by their family members and in some cases, their own parents. The trend of parents or other members of the family selling their daughters or sisters has been going on for the past two decades. Most of the girls come from the Lambada tribe, where flesh trade has become an accepted practice within the community. The police coyly refers to it as "family tradition." According to one officer: "It is common for a man in this community to get married for a second time if the first wife is unable to give birth to a male child. Therefore, the married women believe in producing more number of children in order to give birth to a male child so that their husbands do not marry again. In the process, the females, when they grow up, are sold." A study shows that in five mandals around Kadiri in Anantapur district, three in Kadapa and three in Chittoor district, this has been serious business for several years now. "The girls know that they will be sold some day and what is in store for them. They are sold for anything between Rs 20,000 and Rs 70,000. The girls are sold in Maharashtra or Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Delhi," police officials say. Nobody knows how many girls have been trafficked so far and or how many are still in those dingy brothels somewhere out there. What the police do have is a list of traffickers active in Andhra. Surprisingly, women form a major chunk of traffickers with over 350 of them listed out by the sleuths. There are 157 men who are operating from various parts of the State. Some of them have been arrested, but there are many who continue to do business with these girls. The trafficking network in the state is very well organised and very well-knit. "Poverty and illiteracy are the two main factors that drive these girls into brothels. But the main problem is the demand for the Andhra girls. As long as there is demand, supply is bound to be there," officials say. Nearly, 30 percent of trafficked victims in the country are reportedly from Andhra Pradesh. Approximately, 15,000 girls and women have been trafficked from East and West Godavari districts alone and most of them are Dalits or from Dommari, Bogam and Kalavanthula communities. Out of the 15,000 FIRs registered for crime against women (per year), 537 cases were registered against traffickers in 2005. In 2006, 195 cases were registered and 780 people, including women traffickers, were arrested. "In the last seven months, charge-sheets were filed in 140 cases, nine cases resulted in conviction and 10 cases ended in acquittals. Unfortunately witnesses are not coming forward to depose due to lack of witness protection and support programmes," officials say. The police are also planning to register cases against such husbands who get married for the second time only for want of a son. They are in the process of studying the law under which cases can be registered. By the end of the year, the State Police hopes to arrest 1,000 more traffickers, prosecute them under Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act and other sections of IPC, rescue atleast 1,000 victims, set up witness protection and victim support and provide toll-free Helpline, trauma care and counselling. The police hopes to conduct sensitisation programmes for officers deployed in problem areas, and establish a network with Women and Child Welfare Department, Juvenile Justice Department and NGO's. The police has also established anti-trafficking units in Hyderabad, Anantapur, and Eluru in West Godavari district and plans to set up more such units in other parts of the State. Thanks to the massive trafficking business, in some parts of the State, especially villages, young men in some communities are unable to find suitable girls and one can see quite a few 30-plus bachelors in these villages. How they operate K Haribabu works as a junior assistant in Tangutur mandal revenue office. He has been trafficking women, especially minor girls, and has supplied them from Guntur, Krishna and Khammam districts to Bangalore and Hubli. He has five operatives working for him. All were arrested in June 2006 and the police rescued five girls, who were being sent to Karnataka. K Baji and Subrahmanyam Kumar are a team. They caught the women in their net by offering them roles in movies and sent them to Chennai. Baji used to take the the girls to Vijayawada and Subrahamanyam used to pick them up from there. They were assisted by Karnati Usha, who supplied the girls to Chittemmayi of Puranandampet in Vijayawada. The latter was running a brothel and had expanded her operations to supplying girls to Chennai. They were arrested in December 2006. How they are caught On January 2 this year, the Guntur police arrested one Mastan and rescued some girls who were being trafficked to Chennai. These girls were being brought from Tadepalligudem in West Godavari and taken to Hyderabad and Chennai via Guntur and Tirupati. On January 4, Guntur police conducted raids in Tadepalligudem and arrested five more persons. Mastan started singing and the police came to know of the gang's links in Chennai. They trapped Cherukuri Mohana Rao alias Raju who forced the women brought from various parts of Andhra Pradesh into prostitution. He also used to send some girls to Muscat, where his daughter Varalakshmi supplied girls to prospective customers. The police rescued three girls from East and West Godavari, who were waiting for their visas to fly off to Muscat.. On January 12, based on information obtained from the arrested persons, the police raided an apartment in Saroornagar area in Hyderabad and arrested pimps and brokers. The police recovered a diary containing telephone numbers of sex workers. On the same day, the police raided a premises in Mehdipatnam in Hyderabad and arrested two persons and rescued two girls from Eluru of West Godavari district. At the end of this operation police arrested 22 people and rescued 10 girls.

Date:09/03/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/03/09/stories/2007030922850500.htm
Andhra Pradesh -

Hyderabad Police rescue woman from brothel in Uppal
Staff Reporter
The woman in her early 20s, forced into prostitution by four persons
HYDERABAD: A woman from a remote village of Nalgonda district, who was allegedly sold to a brothel by her lover three years ago, helped the police rescue another woman forced into prostitution in Uppal on Thursday.
Brothel raided
The 20-year-old woman from Nalgonda escaped from a brothel being operated allegedly by one Sweetie at Warasiguda a couple of days ago and approached Ankuram, a voluntary organisation. With Ankuram's help, she met the Crime Investigation Department officials.
Reacting to her complaint, the CID officials with the help of the Uppal police, raided the brothel from where she escaped.
Police found an alleged pimp Sweetie and her associate Srikanth Reddy. Later, they raided another brothel in Uppal.
"There we found a local woman in her early 20s forced into prostitution by one Padma, her associates - Pandit and Prashant - and a customer Tillu," the Uppal police said. According to the police, it was Pandit, a roadside eatery owner, who sold the woman from Nalgonda to Padma three years ago.
Hailing from Turkapally village, the woman fell in his trap when she came to the city on some work. Pandit allegedly befriended her with sweet talk.
Leading her to believe that he wanted to marry her, Pandit sold her to Padma. From there, the woman was sold by one pimp to another in the next three years before landing in Sweetie's brothel.
The two women would be sent to a State Home, the police said.
© Copyright 2000 - 2006 The Hindu

HYDERABAD
Mar 4, 2007

CID sleuths raid brothel, rescue six sex workers

Saturday March 3 2007 12:46 IST
HYDERABAD: A 30-minute late-night operation followed by a raid at dawn helped the sleuths of the Crime Investigation Department (CID) bust a sex racket at Krishna Nagar in Banjara Hills on Friday. A 24-year-old ‘mistress’ was arrested and half-a-dozen sex workers were rescued.Six mobile phones and two motorcycles were seized from the premises.Five persons found negotiating with the mistress also landed behind the bars.The raid is part of efforts to bust women trafficking network in the State.Days after receiving a tip-off, the well-planned decoy operation began on Thursday night. A CID constable posing as a businessman walked into the ‘den’ and negotiated with Udaya alias Uddi for two girls. She demanded Rs 4,000 (Rs 2,000 for each girl). The constable paid an advance of Rs 1,000 and left asking Udaya to arrange the girls the next day.On Friday morning, minutes after the constable entered the den, a team of CID personnel descended on it and took into custody all those present there.‘‘Udaya hails from Tirupati and has been in the trade for the last six years. She brought the girls, aged around 24, from Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Tirupati,’’ SP (CID) Mahesh Bhagwat told this website's newspaper.Surprisingly, Udaya, who had taken the house on rent, had been running the trade for all these six years at the same premises without attracting the attention of the local police.The five arrested customers are: V Raja, M Srisailam, G Krishna, G Ramesh and P Srinivas. A case under Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act (PITA) was registered against them.They were handed over to the Banjara Hills police for further investigation. The rescued sex workers are being shifted to a rehabilitation centre. A few days ago, the CID had raided a brothel in Jeedimetla and rescued four sex workers.The drive against human trafficking would continue, Mahesh Bhagwat said.

IndiaTrafficked girls from Andhra Pradesh rescued in Delhi


By IANS, Feb 28, 2007 - 5:38:21 PM
New Delhi, Feb 28 - Police have rescued four girls from Andhra Pradesh and two minors from brothels in the capital.The girls were rescued from the brothels in the city's red light area Monday night after a special Andhra Pradesh police team conducted a raid with the help of the local police of the Kamla Market police station.'In response to five cases of trafficking registered in Andhra Pradesh, a police team from the state arrived in the city and conducted the raid with our help and rescued the four girls,' said Rakesh Giri, Station House Officer of the Kamla Market police station, without disclosing the names of the girls.While the victims were counselled and interrogated, the Andhra Pradesh police also managed to nab four of the traffickers.Giri said that apart from rescuing the four girls from the southern state, they also rescued two minor girls from the brothel. 'We rescued two minors during the raid as well. They have been sent to Nari Niketan, a government-run counselling home,' Giri told IANS.According to the United Nations -, Andhra Pradesh records the highest number of human trafficking cases in India. In an effort to prevent the trade and exploitation of human beings in the country, an Anti-Human Trafficking Unit was established in Andhra Pradesh last month in partnership with the US government and the UN.The US government provided $2.5 million - for this project, the largest single anti-trafficking project ever funded in the world. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime implements the project, and the Indian government chairs the meetings to help guide the planning and implementation.Apart from Andhra Pradesh, the project also targets four other states -- Bihar, Goa, Maharashtra and West Bengal. The Andhra Pradesh police team that rescued the girls here is a part of the same project.



http://www.rxpgnews.com/india/Trafficked-girls-from-Andhra-Pradesh-rescued-in-Delhi_17506.shtml

India on US 'watch list' for human trafficking
[ 1 Mar, 2007 2310hrs IST]
TIMES NEWS NETWORK


NEW DELHI: India continues to be placed on the US "watch list" of countries allegedly not complying with the international effort to combat human trafficking. Placing state-wise details of human trafficking cases in the Lok Sabha, the minister said the four southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh accounted for over 85% of the total trafficking cases reported so far. During 2003-05, Tamil Nadu topped the list with 2,777 cases registered in the two-year period out of a total of 5,900 cases reported in the country. Karnataka was second with 1,241 cases and Andhra Pradesh and Kerala registered 681 and 225 cases respectively. In its 2006 report on efforts of countries worldwide to eliminate trafficking in persons, the US has placed India in the "Tier 2" category, along with 31 nations to be closely monitored. Countries that comply with US and other international efforts to fight human trafficking are generally placed in "Tier 1". Those falling under the "Tier 3" category face significant sanctions from the US. Bangladesh was under this category when the report was first prepared and released in 2003 by then secretary of state Colin Powell. Minister of state S Regupathy said the government has initiated several measures and advised states to deal with the crime. He said state governments have been asked to evolve an "comprehensive strategy, encompassing rescue, relief and rehabilitation
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1709688.cms?mailtofriend=1

Date:21/02/2007 URL:

http://www.thehindu.com/2007/02/21/stories/2007022103980500.htm
Andhra Pradesh - Nalgonda

28 girls rescued from brothels
Staff Reporter

#Police raid den in Maharashtra
#Traffickers lure girls on the pretext of offering jobs
#Officials to restore the victims to their parents

NALGONDA: A police team led by Suryapet Circle Inspector M. Tirupathanna rescued 35 girls from the brothels of Chandrapur in Maharashtra after arresting 15 traffickers, including a mother-son duo, in a raid conducted on Monday.
Of the rescued girls, 28 are from the State, six are from Maharashtra and one is from Karnataka.
The girls belong to Warangal and Khammam (seven members each), Hyderabad (five), Nalgonda (four) and Adilabad, Mahaboobnagar, Krishna, Guntur and Nellore (one each), Superintendent of Police Vijay Kumar said in a press release here on Tuesday.
The traffickers allegedly forced them into flesh trade after luring them with jobs.
Kingpins — Raninga Venkatesh and his mother Sundaramma alias Somakka of Nakrekal and K. Chandrakala of Kamareddigudem of Tripuraram mandal — were among the 15 persons arrested on the charge of trafficking girls.
Accused
While seven accused persons hail from Warangal district, two are from Hyderabad, one each from Khammam, Guntur and Maharashtra.
The police produced the victims and the accused persons before a local court. "The girls will be handed over to officials of the Child Welfare Department who will restore them to their parents," police sources said.
Mr. Kumar appreciated Chandrapur Collector Sanjay Jaiswal for helping the State police in carrying out the operation.
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