Pass, enforce anti-trafficking law

The government has done well to improve the provisions of the anti-trafficking bill, which has now been put out for public comments. The draft bill has received appreciation, though there may still be room for improvement. Most of the concerns over the old bill, which was presented in the Lok Sabha in 2018, have been addressed in the present draft. Though the bill was then passed by the Lok Sabha, it could not be cleared in the Rajya Sabha due to much criticism and opposition. The new bill expands the scope of the offences under it to include among other things forced labour, organ harvesting, illegal clinical drug trials and unlawful biomedical research. It also extends the definition of trafficking victims to include transgender persons, apart from women and children. It has provisions to tackle cross-border trafficking. Punishment has been enhanced to life imprisonment in most cases, while in cases where children less than 12 years are involved, death penalty is prescribed.

Trafficking is an offence with a long history. It involves exploitation of women and children who are abused sexually and in other ways after being abducted or taken away from their homes on promises of employment or better life. Organised gangs operate across states and across national borders, and many are highly connected. Poverty and problems within families are the main drivers of trafficking. The epidemic has aggravated the problems and the new law needs to be finalised, passed and enforced early, though some provisions need a second look. Failure to report trafficking has been made an offence but this should be clearly defined to avoid misuse. Those who file false complaints will be punished. This should not lead to punishment of an informer or a person who reported a case in good faith, if the case does not lead to conviction. This is particularly important because the conviction rate has remained low in trafficking cases. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) will handle the cases, because trafficking often involves cross-border jurisdictions. But the agency should not be used as a tool for harassment. The bill shows that the temptation to prescribe death penalty for more and more offences remains strong, but this does not make the law more effective in any way.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 2,260 cases involving 6,600 victims were reported in 2019, but the actual number could be much higher. The mechanism to check trafficking in states and districts is almost dysfunctional and they need to be activated and made operational for the law to be enforced effectively.