George promises 'strong' charge sheets against human traffickers

Home Minister K J George said on Thursday that he would instruct the police to file “strong” charge sheets against those accused of human trafficking.

The Home Department will launch a massive awareness programme across Karnataka to educate poor families against falling prey to human traffickers and selling off minor daughters for marriage or employment.

George was responding to a question raised by the BJP’s Vimala Gowda in the Legislative Council. She highlighted how young girls were being sold off by their parents to agents from Rajasthan, Gujarat and other states. She mentioned ‘Gujjar ki shaadi’, a system in which agents buy young girls from poor families for as low as Rs 50,000 per head on the pretext of marrying them. The girls are later sold to red light districts of Mumbai, Delhi, Rajasthan and other places. Gowda suspected the involvement of a big mafia and lamented that the human trafficking had become a profitable trade and young girls were becoming victims. She demanded that the government make the crime a non-bailable offence and take stringent action against those involved in the flesh trade.

George replied that his department was aware of the ‘Gujjar ki shaadi’ system, but said that it was an unorganised enterprise and hence it was difficult for the police to book the criminals. But police have set up anti-human trafficking squads in nine districts, registered 656 cases to date and arrested 2,354 suspects. According to him, the menace be could contained only through a civil movement.