14 NE girls sold to persons in Saudi Arabia, reveals arrested human trafficker

Dimapur, April 13 (EMN): In yet another human trafficking crime, a notorious human trafficker, who was recently arrested by Lucknow Police, has confessed that 14 girls from the Northeast region have been sold to persons in Saudi Arabia, according to Assam Tribune report.

The girls were promised jobs of nursing attendants.

The kingpin of the human trafficking racket has been identified as Rumana Begum, who had allegedly trafficked many girls from across the country, including Northeast.

The sensational revelation came a day after Uttar Pradesh Police busted a trans-national human trafficking racket where a girl hailing from Tripura was rescued on her way to be trafficked to Dubai on April 10.

The victim is likely to be brought back to her native place soon.

According to sources, the victims were taken to Dubai in the name of providing lucrative jobs, but were subsequently sold in places like Dubai.

“Their passports are seized once they reach there and are exploited sexually and physically,” a source privy to the development said.

A team of Lucknow Police has already left for Mumbai based on the call detail records of the arrested trafficker.

Rishi Kant of Shakti Vahini, a leading organization working against human trafficking, told the Assam Tribune, “We believe, if investigated simultaneously in Tripura, Mumbai and Lucknow, which in this case are source, transit and destination respectively, more shocking development would emerge.”

As per government data, almost 20,000 women and children were victims of human trafficking in India in 2016, a rise of nearly 25 per cent compared to 2015.

Trafficking of Child and women is a serious concern prevalent in India. According to a report published by the US Department of State, India is the source, destination and transit country for human trafficking who then get involved in forced labor and sex trafficking. The statistics of the Ministry of Women and Child Development states that 19,223 women and children were trafficked in 2016 against 15,448 in 2015, with the highest number of victims being recorded in the eastern state of West Bengal. People from the lower cast or the tribal communities and the women and children from the excluded groups of the society are generally lured of a better lifestyle and employment opportunity and sold by the agents.

Human trafficking is the third largest organized crime after drugs and the arms trade across the globe. According to the definition of the United Nations – “trafficking is any activity leading to recruitment, transportation, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or a position of vulnerability”.

Human trafficking is one of the major problems in India. Till date no concrete study has been conducted so far to know the exact number of trafficked in India.