CHENNAI: India did not take an interdisciplinary approach in dealing with human trafficking, said executive director of Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan, Veerendra Misra, IPS.
Speaking at the ‘National Seminar on Human Trafficking’ organised by the University of Madras and International Justice Mission on Wednesday, he said the dimensions of human trafficking in India was limited to sex and labour trafficking.
In the medical sector, trafficking was understood as only organ trafficking. Misra emphasised that the system needed to evolve and accommodate other forms of human trafficking such as exploitation for clinical trials, trafficking for adoption and surrogacy mafia.
Each case of trafficking had a social system backing it. Sex trafficking might happen in brothels or could be practiced by some communities. Misra believed that two cases could never be treated the same way as one might need criminal intervention while the other needed social intervention. “The criminal justice system comprises prevention, protection, prosecution and participation; while we have to strengthen our social justice system that takes care of rescue, rehabilitation and reintegration,” he said.
While the police were involved in dealing with victims of human trafficking, there were hardly any psychologists or counsellors who were a part of anti-trafficking cells. Victims, especially children, were more likely to speak to non-uniformed authorities.
The chairperson of the National Commission for Women, New Delhi, Dr Lalitha Kumaramangalam, who also spoke at the seminar, said India had one of the best laws against human trafficking but failed in implementation as there was no “inter-sectoral co-ordination”.