By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,
Shimla: In first of its kind in India, the Union government has sanctioned setting up of Anti Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) in Himachal Pradesh in order to deal with the widespread menace of bride trafficking in the state. AHTU will be established in six districts notorious for the widespread cases of bride trafficking — Shimla, Solan, Sirmor, Kangda, Chanba and Kullu.
Bride trafficking involves trafficking and selling of girls for the purpose of ‘marriage.’ Girls are usually sold and resold more than thrice. Interestingly there is no legal status and well as social sanction to this kind of marriage which is usually exploited to use girls as sex slave as well as labor.
Shafiqur Rahman Khan making a presentation for sensitising the Himachal Pradesh police with the issue of Bride Trafficking
Empower People, the only organization working specifically for rescue/rehabilitation of girls caught up in bride trafficking, had a very important role to play in the formulation of this policy initiative by the HP government.
The scenic Shimla is one of the worst affected areas by the menace of bride trafficking, said Shafiqur Rahman Khan, anti-bride trafficking activist and the founder of Empower People.
Talking to TwoCircles.net, Shafique said, with the trafficking of 4000 girls annually from Shimla to Punjab, Haryana, Kurukshethra and Jharkhand, after Bihar and Assam, the state of Himachal Pradesh is the third biggest supplier of girls in the whole business of bride trafficking. According to unofficial estimates, more than fifty thousands girls are trafficked across the country from backward districts of West Bengal, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Assam and north-eastern states of India.
Shafique has been lobbying with the state administration since last three years to formulate a policy to tackle bride trafficking. Besides his lobbying it took several studies and reports prepared by Empower People to convince the state administration about the gravity of this problem.
“It’s only after four years of negotiation and discussion with the police and administration that this kind of path breaking policy initiative has been possible first time anywhere in the country,” added Shafique.
Shafiqur Rahman Khan (L) with Mr.SR Mardi, IG of law & admin Himachal Pradesh
On the request of the police administration of Himachal Pradesh, Shafiq has also given training to police officers in order to sensitize them with the issue of bride trafficking.
“Bride trafficking is a complicated issue and more often than not, police mixes the issue of bride trafficking with flesh trade and prostitution. So what happens is that a girl who is actually a victim ends up getting treated by the law as a criminal,” added Shafique.
Shafique highlighted the fact that “because there is no separate law to deal with child trafficking, most of the time police use Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act, a law frequently used to tackle cases of prostitution which has done enormous harm to the efforts for the rescue of girls caught up in bride trafficking.”
“Establishment of AHTUs is a welcome step because it’s high time that that the government woke up from its slumber and treat the issue of bride trafficking seriously and formulate policy separately to tackle this issue” added Shafique.