They survive in brothels, factories, guesthouses, dance bars, farms and even in the homes of well off Indians, with no control over their bodies and lives. Young girls are also being trafficked for illegal adoptions, organ transplants and the entertainment Industry.
Although cross – border trafficking of women, specially young girls who are coming from our neighboring countries like; Bangladesh or Nepal has been a problem in India for the last two decades. NGOs and Academic researchers say that there has been a phenomenal growth in inters – state trafficking in the last five years.
Traffickers are not just getting women to brothels or to tourist spots; young girls from conflict – ridden states like Assam, Manipur or drought prone states like Andhra Pradesh are being sold as ‘Brides’ in Haryana and Western U.P. It is well known that due to rampant practice of foeticide in the last two decades, Haryana has a severe shortage of Women.
The traffickers, who even include women, lure young girls with the promise of a job or simply abduct them and bring them to Haryana. Here, they are not married, but kept as ‘wives’ by men. These women are caged in homes and under rape almost everyday. They all had horror tales to tell; some women said they are beaten with brooms, rods and belts. The women are often raped and if they try to leaves, they are not paid their wages. Most of them come from ‘Placement Agencies’.
While earlier women and children were largely trafficked from poor states, today the North – Eastern States; Nagaland, Assam and Manipur have also joined the list.
In 2004, a report, ‘Action Research on Trafficking in women and Children in India’, commissioned by the NHRC in collaboration with UNIFEM and the Institute of Social Sciences revealed that every year over 24,000 women and 44,000 children are reported missing in India.
Like slavery, trafficking offers huge profits. According to the NHRC report, transactions in prostitution itself are worth Rs 185 million a day; Rs 370 billion per year. Human trafficking is globally the largest source of profit after arms and drug trafficking.
In 2004, the US government put India on the Tier 2 watch list along with six other Asian countries, for its inadequate response to the trafficking issue.