Growing presence of women from Bangladesh in India’s infamous flesh trade has set alarm bells ringing in the country’s home ministry, adding to the headache of diplomats from Dhaka.
” We are aware of the involvement of Bangladeshi women in India’s flesh trade. We are working on a strategy to stop this racket,” said a senior diplomat in the Bangladesh High Commission to bdnews24.com.
But he was not willing to be named.
Official records suggest there are around 180 Bangladeshi girls rescued from brothels in Mumbai and 80 from those in Delhi, who are now languishing in different rescue (shelter) homes in these two Indian cities.
“Verifying their nationality and going ahead with their repatriation is something that would take time,” said the diplomat.
During the last three years, more than 150 Bangladeshi women have been repatriated from India after they were rescued from red-light areas in metros.
Elaborating on the issue of the involvement of Bangladeshi women in the flourishing trade, he said, “They are victims of human trafficking.”
Officials say the porous India-Bangladesh border and poverty in Bangladesh are two major push factors for women trafficking from Bangladesh to India and their growing involvement in India’s flesh trade.
“On several occasions when we interacted with these hapless women from Bangladesh, we were told that they were victims of human trafficking,” said Subir Roy, a member of a Delhi-based NGO-Shakti Bahini.
“They are easily trapped by the traffickers, who lure them on the pretext of giving jobs in India’s metros,”
What has worried the security establishment here is the fact that some women who come to India on valid passport get involved in flesh trade.
In September last year, a 20-year old Bangladeshi woman, having valid passport, was rescued from a hotel in Haryana.
“When we came to know about the woman we took the help of anti-trafficking unit of the Delhi police and rescued the woman from a posh hotel in Haryana,” said Roy.
The woman was later sent to Dhaka by the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi.
Both the countries share 4,096 km international border. Five states including West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram share their boundary with Bangladesh.
According to a senior official in the home ministry, fencing for over 3,000 km has been sanctioned. While nearly 77 percent of the work is completed, dispute over some 180 sites on the border of both the countries have delayed work.
India’s home ministry has issued an advisory to combat trafficking.
The advisory stated that the missions or the posts in India may be informed of the arrest and detention of the foreign national by the state or other authorities through Consular, Passport and Visa (CPV) Division of the external affairs ministry.
“The victims and the person actually involved in human trafficking should be treated differently by the police. This is in line with the SAARC convention which advocates a victim-centric approach,” the circular said.
In order to ensure better conviction rates of perpetrators of trafficking, prosecution should be based on documentary, forensic and material evidence.
“State governments are advised to encourage law-enforcement agencies to investigate the cases, so that conviction can be guaranteed. Use of fast-track courts needs to be ensured,” the advisory said.
Source: Bd news24