NEW DELHI: Absence of a strong and robust mechanism to investigate human trafficking cases that often span across state borders leads to the acquittal of accused, activists have said.
Reacting to the statistics recently shared by the government in parliament that the conviction rate in human trafficking cases has been consistently declining over the last four years, activists said the issue of declining rate of conviction essentially indicates there is a lack of strong and appropriate investigation that can span across state borders.
"The survivors don't turn hostile. They are dealing with a justice system which is not at all accessible to them," says Pompi Banerjee, a psychologist and researcher at Sanjog, an NGO and a member of Tafteesh, which describes itself as a coalition of survivors of human trafficking.
Kaushik Gupta, a human rights lawyer practicing at Calcutta High Court said the foundation of a criminal trial is based on a proper investigation.
In most of the cases of human trafficking, the investigation is extremely perfunctory and localised.
"Though the crime is usually an organised and an interstate one, the investigation is rarely interstate. And since this is a case of circumstantial evidence until and unless the chain of circumstance is shown to be completed, conviction cannot be based on such evidence. Therefore, the low conviction rate is due to the problem and fallacies in investigation," said Gupta.
Gupta said it must be ensured that survivors of the crime are adequately and promptly compensated so that they also find it in their interest to pursue their case and adduce proper evidence to ensure conviction.
Sambhu Nanda, an activist who coordinates an anti-human trafficking NGO network in West Bengal, said, We have seen a number of trafficking cases which were not properly investigated and resulted in the acquittal of the traffickers who are now roaming free and still threatening and intimidating survivors in their community".
"However, in a few cases, which were handled by anti-human trafficking units (AHTU) personnel, the investigation has been very fast and robust. Survivors have even also gone with them to destination states to identify traffickers and the place of crime leading to arrests and conviction of the perpetrators," Nanda said.
Subhashree Raptan, an activist from Goranbose Gram Bikas Kendra, said in cases where the survivor was rescued from a different state, the police had neither visited West Bengal (source area) to investigate the chain of trafficking nor asked the survivor for further information after her rescue.
"The accused in all those cases have been acquitted for want of evidence. The survivors now feel betrayed by the justice system. There's, however, another case in which the survivor was facilitated to participate in the interstate investigation and depose in the trial through video conferencing leading to the conviction of the accused," she said.
According to the recent submission by the home ministry in parliament, seven states -- Assam, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Goa, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab -- did not witness a single conviction in trafficking cases in 2020 and all cases resulted in acquittals or discharges.
In order to improve conviction of traffickers which is necessary to break the impunity traffickers enjoy and to bring in some deterrence, the justice system needs to be more accessible to the survivors through ensuring appropriate support for their rehabilitation and ensuring that they receive victim compensation one of the key factors that can make the system more accessible and more friendly towards survivors, the activists said.
"We must make the interstate investigation system more robust so that evidence collection can happen end to end. If the investigation is strong then the prosecution does not only have to depend upon the testimony of the survivor in order to prosecute the traffickers. Therefore, this must happen across the country by strengthening the anti-human trafficking units," said Banerjee.
"The conviction rate will remain low unless India has a comprehensive legislation that provides for a strong investigation mechanism clarifying the roles and responsibilities of investigating agencies such as AHTUs and the NIA," she said.
"The proposed Trafficking In Persons Bill, 2021 is one of the instruments that can really help in addressing all aspects of human trafficking and increasing conviction rate," she added.