Chennai becoming hub for trafficking

Nine children from a pani puri making unit in Choolai were rescued more than a fortnight ago. Reported to be trafficked from Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur district, the news created a flutter as it highlighted the ugly side of the trade that has made its way to the heart of the teeming metro. However, the case has only shown one side of the crime as the trend today is also towards making the city a source, as it is an important transit point.

In another instance, a few months ago, a 17-year-old boy was rescued from Egmore station by activists, after he ran away from Basavakalyan in Karnataka following a three-year stint at a confectionary unit. He revealed that he was trafficked from Virudhunagar to Basavakalyan on the Karnataka-Maharashtra Border. He had managed to escape from the unit and had made his way to the city on a train, even starving for a couple of days.

A senior official from the Anti Trafficking Cell said that they bust at least 20 such cases every month and attributed the frequency to the appeal the city has as a destination and as a major gateway to other parts of the country. “It is difficult to identify them from other migrants who come here looking for jobs. The victims could be from the east or north and even Bangladeshis and Nepalis. We cannot spot them from the crowd arriving at railway stations,” the official said, adding that while most women are trafficked for commercial sex, the rest are trafficked for occupations in kilns and mills.

M Devasitham, associate director, strategic development, International Justice Mission, said that there is a clear distinction between the type of work for which women and children are trafficked. “Many girls are being brought in to the city for their fair complexion to work in massage parlours and spas. The labourers from Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand are brought here to work at brick kilns and rice mills. Women are employed in textile and spinning units. The state is clearly classified into different kinds of industries - rice mills in Kancheepuram, rock breaking in Tiruvannamalai, etc.”

He added that in the past six years, 1,500 labourers from the brick kilns of Tiruvallur were rescued and most of them hailed from the north to east belt.

There are cases of people being trafficked from the state, too. A section of children from Virudhunagar, Madurai and Tiruvannamalai were taken to be employed in confectionary units in Basavakalyan, while some have been sent to work in pipe companies in Mumbai, the source added.

A short survey has revealed that 1,500 laubourers were trafficked on train in the past few years. However, as the number of people using railway facilities in the city is huge, the tracking of trafficking requires careful coordination. “Sulurpet and Ponneri are active points to transport trafficked labourers. This calls for the Railway personnel to be sensitised on the issue. We have been creating awareness among travelling ticket examiners (TTE) and the Railway Police Force to intercept them. They have been responsive and are actively involved in making the counter mechanism more robust,” Devasitham said.

The awareness has yielded benefits as officials rescued two boys from Chennai Central and Park Station. We have also set up a team with RPF, he added.

R Isabel, executive secretary of Madras Ch\ristian Council of Social Services (MCCSS), said trafficking is becoming more organised and it is serving as a safe garb for the perpetrators. “Instances of girls being trafficked under the guise of dance performances remind us that the crime is being carried out strategically. The cover of massage parlous and spas for commercial sex is another challenge. Nonetheless, the chain has to be carefully tapped to catch the culprits,” she said, observing that Chennai is a good gateway for traffickers.

Activists also pointed out that while the responsibility of traffickers ended after handing over the victims to the clients in the past, the traffickers now keep in touch to make sure that the labourers do not escape. They keep the victims in control by retaining their identity cards orimportant documents.

Devasitham added that every penny matters for the traffickers. As they look for profits at every step, they choose unreserved compartments to transport the victims. Also, the swift transfer of victims on a regular basis also makes the tracking process difficult. “When a girl is trafficked for flesh trade, she is being moved out of one place followed by the other on a daily basis,” an activist said.

Strengthening thenetwork

Though departments like the Police, Revenue, Labour, etc, have achieved a spate of arrests and releases, there is a lot more tobe accomplished.

“There is an Interstate Migrant Act that lies largely abandoned. It seeks the registration of labourers who migrate during a seasona of unemployment with the corresponding Labour Department. They have to also specify the period of stay, place and pay but this is not being followed.” Devasitham said.

The official from the Anti Trafficking Cell echoes the same, adding that apathy from the general public makes curbing of the crime difficult. “However, the anti-human trafficking clubs proposed by the Madras School of Social Work is a great initiative and it can make society an active participant to putting an end to this menace.” “While technology can be used to and keep the perpetrators under surveillance, the set up demands a sophisticated mechanism. But how do we apply it to a large population is the big question,” added Devasitham. He said the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018, is a great step. It mandates every district to set up a unit to check trafficking.

Rubina* and Mariam* have been at MCCSS for the past few months. Hailing from Barisal in Bangladesh, Rubina was lured by a friend who promised her to take her to see Taj Mahal and Bollywood celebrities. “I had never heard of any place apart from Kolkata in India. A friend brought me to India four years ago and in a few days, I found myself in Bengaluru. I was in my teens then and thought I will have fun there.” She was soon deserted in Madurai by her friend and his girlfriend. “I then thought I was in some part of Kolkata. All the places looked the same to me. When I told the police I couldn’t speak Tamil, they sent me to MCCSS.” Rubina doesn’t want to discuss what happened to her during her stay in India but she dreams of returning home one day.  Mariam’s story is only a little different. She came to India from Khulna in Bangladesh to be employed in a tailoring unit. “I was good at stitching and dreamt of earning a lot here. I was cheated by an acquaintance who sent me to Kolkata and then to Bengaluru and Madurai, where no one believed me when I said I was an outsider.” Mariam said, “My sister had a baby after I left and I am waiting to go back to them.” Both women are waiting to be repatriated through a unique mission in association with an NGO in Meghalaya called Impulse NGO Network. R Isabel, executive secretary of MCCSS, said that the women and girls in Bangladesh and Nepal are soft targets because they pass off as Bengalis or Biharis. “I have seen 20 such girls and women in the past, too,” she added. (*Names changed)