Prevention, Rescue and Rehabilitation of Women and Children Trafficked into Prostitution in Delhi

The Commission has been greatly concerned about the number of women, particularly minor girls, found in the brothels of Delhi. To control this problem, the Focal Point on Trafficking set-up at the Commission decided that there was need to coordinate the programmes and measures to deal with prevention, rescue and rehabilitation of women and children trafficked into prostitution in Delhi and, indeed, along the borders with Nepal and Bangladesh. A meeting was accordingly convened in the Commission on 25 February 2002 under the Chairmanship of Justice Smt. Sujata V. Manohar. It was attended by senior police officials of Delhi, a representative of ‘STOP’ an NGO, working in this area in Delhi, and senior officials of the Commission. The National Commission for Women (NCW) was also invited. Smt. Nafisa Hussain, Member, NCW attended the meeting. Some of the pertinent points arising out of the meeting were as follows:

· Arrangements for providing food for the rescued women / girls as well as for their transportation to hospitals for their medical check-up should be made available at the concerned Police Stations.

· Additional space should be provided for rescued women and children at Nirmal Chaya in Delhi in order to accommodate those who are rescued.

· There was need for other Departments to coordinate with the Social Welfare Department of NCT Delhi and with the State Social Welfare Departments for rehabilitation of rescued women and children. This would help in checking inter-state and inter-country trafficking across borders.

· There was need for better networking and co-ordination within the country between the Police Stations of different States / UTs to combat trafficking.

· Emphasis should be given to rehabilitation per se. Meaningful steps should be taken by the Government as well as by NGOs working in the field to arrange the repatriation of victims, their re-acceptance by their families, and their gradual re-entry into the life of their communities.

· Owners of Kothas and pimps were often able to get bail and free themselves with the connivance of law-enforcing agencies. It was proposed that there was need to examine whether provisions of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976; Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1971 and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 could be invoked to stall bail applications.