India: Child traffickers should be given ten year jail terms

Submitted by crinadmin on

[5 December 2006] - A parliamentary committee in India has recommended 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment for child traffickers, noting that they “deserve the maximum punishment”. The standing committee also suggested imprisonment for no less than seven years for those trafficking in adults, and a special fund for the rehabilitation of commercial sex workers and their children.

“Any person who commits trafficking in person shall be punishable on first conviction with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than seven years for trafficking in adults and not less than 10 years for trafficking in children, and in the event of a second or a subsequent conviction with imprisonment for life,” said the committee set up by the human resources development ministry to make recommendations on the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Amendment Bill 2006.

The 17-page report, presented to the lower house of parliament, the Lok Sabha, on November 23, said redlight areas and brothel-based commercial sex work accounted for 10-20 per cent of the total flesh trade in the country. It added that there was a sharp increase in other forms of prostitution including shifting/mobile brothel prostitution.

The proposed amendments are aimed at widening the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act (ITPA), focusing mainly on traffickers, treating women as victims and not culprits, making its implementation more effective as well as providing more stringent punishment for traffickers and people availing of the services of victims of trafficking.

Though an attempt was made to address the serious problem of trafficking under the Act, the committee noted that it could only be considered a “half-hearted” attempt, as the cross-border dimensions of the problem had not been tackled.

Recommending that more women police officers be appointed to deal with crimes under ITPA, the panel said that the government should initiate a training and sensitisation programme for police officials, to ensure that victims who were already in trauma were saved from further harassment.

Further information 

  • Vital Voices Global Partnership: Anti-Trafficking Awareness Toolkit (August 2006)
  • UNICEF - Regional Office for Central and Eastern Europe: Reference Guide on Protecting the Rights of Child Victims of Trafficking in Europe (July 2006)
  • United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime: Trafficking in Persons - Global Patterns (April 2006)

    • pdf: http://www.infochangeindia.org/HumanItop.jsp?section_idv=13#4757/

    Country: 
    India
    Issues: 
    Trafficking
    Violence: 
    Trafficking
    Attachment Link: 
    http://www.infochangeindia.org/HumanItop.jsp?section_idv=13#4757/

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