PATNA: The magnitude
of human trafficking in Bihar is alarming as about 35,000 to 40,000 children
from the state were missing and nobody knew about their whereabouts, said former
Delhi police commissioner Amod Kanth. There was no human development indicator
in Bihar, resulting in the frequent use of child labour and violation of law
dealing with it, he said.
Speaking on the first day of the three-day
seminar on ‘Training of Master trainers: To combat human trafficking’,
organized jointly by the crime investigation department (CID) of Bihar police
and Save the Children, a civil society organization, here on Monday, Kanth
stressed the need to redefine human trafficking as the present definition did
not deal with the issue in its entirety. The Central government was working on
a new manual to make it clear, he said, adding that the Immoral Trafficking Act
discussed only about commercialization of sex and the Juvenile Justice Act talked
only about children between 6 and 8 years of age.
Throwing light on the complexity of the issue,
Kanth said human trafficking was related not only to prostitution but also with
forced marriage, child sex and organ transplant. He said the present definition
was itself so complex that it was creating problem in tackling the real issue.
Addressing the inaugural function, DGP
Abhayanand said human trafficking was the worst form of rights violation and
reiterated the Bihar police commitment to eliminate this evil from the state.
The DGP asked police officials to behave
properly with victims of human trafficking, be alert about any information in
this regard and take cognisance on priority basis.
Speaking on ‘Coordination: Police, community and
civil society organization’, member of Bihar Public Service Commission and
retired IPS officer, Rajyabardhan Sharma, said the local police should take the
media help in busting the gangs involved in human trafficking. He, however,
felt the media was not giving proper space to such serious issues.
State programme coordinator of Save the
Children, Nitu Prasad, said the victims needed support as kids took to crime
because of lack of awareness about law.
ADG (CID) A S Nimbran, IG Arbind Pandey and DIG
Kamal Kishore were also present on the occasion.