KOZHIKODE: Amid growing concerns over the safety of women and children, the latest Ministry of Home Affairs data reveal human trafficking rackets are more active than ever in Kerala.
The number of women trafficked from the state registered a 12-fold increase, with the figure reading 176 for 2016. It was 14 in 2015 and five in 2014. The gravity of the situation came to light when the Kerala Police recently conducted an operation in Oman rescuing 14 out of 67 girls trafficked to the West Asian country by a sex racket.
The number of children traded in 2016 increased to 83, up from 66 in 2015 and one in 2014.
“The police and civil society groups are doing their best in fighting human trafficking rackets operating in the state,” Inspector General (Crimes) S Sreejith, who also heads the Anti-Human Trafficking Squad in Kerala, told Express.
“Whether it is rape, sexual assault or cheating, we have started invoking IPC Section 370 too in cases where we find a human trafficking angle.
This has led to a rise in the number of cases under the human trafficking category,” he said.
Sreejith said many human trafficking incidents still go unreported as several victims refrain from lodging a complaint fearing ostracisation and decide to sacrifice their lives for the welfare of their dear ones back home.
According to the police, many rackets were still pushing girls to the Gulf countries promising jobs. As per a submission made in the Parliament by Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, the government has signed Memorandums of Understanding with the United Arab Emirates on prevention of human trafficking. Earlier, the police in north Kerala had launched a special operation after a surge in ‘woman missing’ cases. Thirty six women were reported missing from various parts of the northern districts last year.
IPC Section 370: Whoever, for the purpose of exploitation, (a) recruits, (b) transports, (c) harbours, (d) transfers, or (e) receives, a person or persons, by - using threats, or using force, or any other form of coercion, or by abduction, or by practising fraud, or deception, or by abuse of power, or by inducement, including the giving or receiving of payments or benefits, in order to achieve the consent of any person having control over the person recruited, transported, harboured, transferred or received, commits the offence of trafficking.