With a fortnight to go for the Commonwealth Games, flesh trade has emerged into a major cause of concern for the Centre. With reports of girls being brought into the city for “commercial sexual exploitation”, the Union home ministry has shot out an advisory to six target states.
West Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are states from where women and children are being brought into the city for exploitation of various kinds. This includes, “commercial sexual exploitation, forced labour, domestic servitude and begging”. The government which described these as an “organised crime”, has alerted these states that “all such cases, noticed, must be reported to the control room for immediate action and rescue operation”. It has also asked police forces to keep a watch on suspected trafficking points such as railway stations, bus and taxi stands, public places, isolated hotels, guest houses and streets.
The home ministry said that “increasing reports of such criminal activity by certain fraudulent placement agencies by making false promises of getting employment in Delhi during the Commonwealth Games” is a matter of deep concern. The ministry noted that recently few minor girls were brought to the city from certain states in the eastern part of the country and were rescued from New Delhi Railway station by the police and NGOs. ls are the main targets. Some of them are even injected with oxytocin to attain puberty at a younger age,” said the advisory which has been sent to chief secretaries, home secretaries and DGPs of the six states.
The home ministry has asked the Delhi commissioner of police to immediately establish anti-trafficking cells in all sensitive police districts in the city in the wake of the Commonwealth Games. The advisory has also been sent to ministry of overseas Indian affairs for appropriate action. In a recent meeting in the home ministry concern was raised over reports that 20,000 women are being brought into the city for flesh trade.