Nagpur one of biggest hubs of women trafficking: Maneka Gandhi

NAGPUR: Union women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi on Wednesday dropped a bombshell by stating that Nagpur had become one of the biggest human trafficking centres of the country.
The rescue of a minor from a brothel in Ganga Jamuna redlight area in July this year had was a pointer to this reality. The girl, who had lost her father early, was brought to city from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh when she was a child.
Along with flesh trade racketeers, also on the prowl are ones who traffic girls for marriage to states where sex ratio is skewed. The Rana Pratap Nagar police’s action against one such racket underlined the fact that marriageable girls from poor families were the prime targets for the racket. The 15-year-old year old girl was sold to a family in Kota in Rajathan for Rs 1.5 lakh for marriage. The minor was later rescued. It is believed many such rackets are operating in the slums of the city but most cases go unreported.
Senior police officials however said city was merely a transit point being in the centre. “We came across many cases in which girls were being taken north from south. They passed through the city as it falls on the train route,” they said.
While addressing a gathering of over 5,000 women in Deoli, Gandhi said her ministry was continuously taking steps to control such activities. “Over the years, the Congress government did nothing. No stringent law was made against trafficking. We are now coming up with an anti-trafficking bill that would prevent women caught in brothel raids from being arrested. In most of the cases, victims get punished rather than traffickers,” she added.
Gandhi further highlighted that the ministry’s efforts towards reaching out to people had borne fruits. “As trafficking of women and children mostly takes place through trains, we started putting posters in every bogie raising awareness about the same. We now receive about two lakh phone calls every month, from people giving us tip-offs and filing complaints about such women and children found in trains and stations,” the minister said.
Children often become victims of molestation but hesitate in talking about it. To grab child molesters, Gandhi had recently launched an online complaint management system – Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) e-Box. “With this, we hope to report maximum sexual offences against children,” said Gandhi.
The minister urged rural women to get self-employed through various platforms offered by her ministry. “We launched an online platform Mahila e-Haat where women can display their products for sale. Till now, products worth lakhs have been sold out. Women of rural India are not just meant for cooking and stitching, think creative and showcase your talent,” Gandhi said.