Telangana cracks whip on human trafficking

Hyderabad: The Telangana Police rescued 363 women who were forced into prostitution last year by organised crime syndicates. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data released recently, Telangana police has cracked the whip against the human trafficking syndicates registering 184 cases. Among other States, Maharashtra also booked 184 cases against traffickers followed by […]

Hyderabad: The Telangana Police rescued 363 women who were forced into prostitution last year by organised crime syndicates.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data released recently, Telangana police has cracked the whip against the human trafficking syndicates registering 184 cases. Among other States, Maharashtra also booked 184 cases against traffickers followed by Andhra Pradesh (171 cases). A total of 1,651 cases were registered across the country.

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The proactive approach of Telangana Police in curbing the rising crime is evident from the fact that the State had formed Anti-Human Trafficking Units. “The Anti-Human Trafficking Units are active across the State. Frequent information is collected and rescue operations or raids conducted by the teams,” Inspector General (Women Safety) B Sumathi said.

Across the State, the police had rescued 401 women and 37 persons from human traffickers in 2020. Of the 401 women, the highest number 363 were rescued from the prostitution syndicates and the remaining from forced labour and slavery.

The previous year, the police had registered 137 cases while in 2018, a total of 242 cases were registered. Charge sheets were filed in about 98 per cent of the cases.

“Police are filing the charge sheet promptly. Nevertheless, the conviction rate is low in such case. More need to be done to ensure the traffickers are convicted,” argues Jameela Nishanth of Shaheen Women’s Resource and Welfare Association.

According to the sources, human trafficking especially prostitution became a more lucrative business with the organisers finding newer ways to reach out the customers in backdrop of the social media platforms.

“Earnings run into lakhs of rupees on weekly basis for these organisers operating brothels under the cover of massage parlours, escort services and friendship rackets,” a woman social activist pointed on the basis of anonymity.

Senior police officials said as part of their efforts, PD Act was also being invoked against those involved in human trafficking. In rehabilitation of the victims, the police are also being assisted by Women and Child Welfare department, district administration and local NGOs.

Women safety top priority

The Telangana Police are in the forefront when it comes to women safety. In fact, it is the only State in the country to have a separate women safety wing and their job is clearly defined. B Sumathi, Inspector General (Women Safety) shares the various proactive initiatives aimed at ensuring the safety of women.

Objective of Women Safety wing

Our objective is to ensure that women/ girls across the State feel safe and secure. For this, we have set our goals and follow a mechanism where we monitor our work on regular basis actively, initiate action against wrong doers and ensure privacy to the victims. The task of every individual working on the women safety aspect is well defined to avoid doubts and contribute their best.

Initiatives of Telangana Police

First of all we have She Teams across all the districts in the State. The teams do awareness as well as enforcement work like nabbing those harassing women/girls at public places, and counseling is also done. We also have Bharosa center where women subjected to violence can report their complaints. Then ‘Operation Muskaan’ is also conducted twice a year to rescue children trapped in child labour.

Dealing with women trafficking issues

Previously, we had one Women Protection Wing in the CID, now with Anti- Human Trafficking Units (AHTU) teams across the State, we are much stronger. Our personnel collect intelligence and plan operations accordingly. Also, regular monitoring of the PITA offenders is being done on ground.

Online prostitution

Telangana Police are now starting a cyber-lab to focus on the online trafficking cases. A separate team will collect intelligence of the online trafficking and based on the information, required follow up action will be initiated by the field level teams. A dedicated website will be there where people can pass on information about such illegal activities.

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