• Food & Lifestyle
  • Tech
  • Viral
  • Sci-Tech
  • Interview
  • Photos
  • Videos
  • Contact Us
Friday, February 22, 2019
Afternoon Voice
  • Top News
  • City News
    • Ahmedabad
    • Amritsar
    • Bangalore
    • Chandigarh
    • Chennai
    • Delhi
    • Hyderabad
    • Jaipur
    • Kolkata
    • Lucknow
    • Ludhiana
    • Mumbai
    • Nagpur
    • Nashik
    • Pune
    • Thane
  • Nation
    • Andhra Pradesh
    • Bihar
    • Chhattisgarh
    • Delhi & NCR
    • Goa
    • Gujarat
    • Jammu & Kashmir
    • Karnataka
    • Madhya Pradesh
    • Maharashtra
    • Northeast
    • Punjab & Haryana
    • Rajasthan
    • Tamil Nadu
    • Uttar Pradesh
    • West Bengal
    • Other States
  • World
    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia
    • Australia
    • Europe
    • Middle East
  • Business
    • Aviation
    • Banking & Finance
    • Budget & Policies
    • Economy
    • Companies
    • Market
    • Auto
    • Startup
    • Property
  • Sports
    • All
    • Badminton
    • Cricket
    • Football
    • Hockey
    • News
    • Others
    • Tennis

    England women bundle out India for 202 after middle-order collapse

    Indo-Pak World Cup issue: CoA to meet on Friday to take a call

    Stiff lower back rules Hardik out of Australia series, Jadeja named replacement

    We want to make history in India, says England skipper Heather Knight

    Team focused on getting direct entry into 2021 World cup: Mithali

    SC appoints former judge DK Jain as first ombudsman in BCCI

    India lose by not playing Pak in WC: Gavaskar urges PM Imran to act

    My focus is to regain fitness ahead of Oly qualification: Pranaav

    ICC bans Irfan Ansari for 10 years from all forms of cricket

  • Entertainment
    • All
    • Bollywood
    • Hollywood
    • Review

    Michael B Jordan to star in Denzel Washington’s directorial ‘Journal for Jordan’

    Brooke Shields to star in gender non-conforming drama ‘Glamorous’

    Eminem not happy with Netflix over ‘The Punisher’ cancellation

    Naseeruddin Shah to reprise his role in ‘Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro’ sequel?

    How Jackie Shroff, Bachchan helped Vijay Varma shape his character in ‘Gully Boy’

    Kevin Costner, Diane Lane to star in suspense thriller ‘Let Him Go’

    Sonam Kapoor pays heartfelt tribute to Karl Lagerfeld

    Producer Raj Kumar Barjatya passes away

    Chris Hemsworth to play Hulk Hogan in new Netflix film

  • Editorial
  • Opinion
    • Column
    • Diary
    • Letters
  • Epaper
No Result
View All Result
Afternoon Voice
No Result
View All Result

Home > Editorial > Iron out loopholes in Anti-Trafficking laws first

Iron out loopholes in Anti-Trafficking laws first

Vaidehi by Vaidehi
July 18, 2018
0

The proposed Anti-Trafficking Bill is scheduled for review. However, some elite section of the society appealed to the Ministry of Women and Child Development that the bill criminalises sex workers and transgender. They are asking for a clear mention in the bill that consenting adult workers are not going to be castigated under the new law. Even the sex workers are afraid that their mighty rehabilitation as per the legislation will not only displace women but also take away their source of livelihood. The government has already failed to create jobs and empower youth, this section is another big challenge. Objectors have reasoned against the moralistic nature of the ‘raid-rescue-rehabilitate’ model that the bill endorses. Sex work is not legal in India and while those in the government have accused activists of opposing the bill as a backdoor for legalising sex work. India already has at least 10 laws that together are used to prosecute trafficking crimes. This bill does not add much in terms of compensation for the victims and real rehabilitation; readings have shown that most women who are sent to rehabilitation homes from sex work return to the profession once left to their own. This is what is happening from ages.

The Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018, is known as the Anti-Trafficking Bill, is expected to provide stringent punishment to the perpetrators, after the cabinet cleared the bill. It was hopeful to see the cabinet approving the bill, but it has to be brought to both houses of the Parliament in the upcoming Monsoon Session without further delay. Otherwise, the election declaration would take place in a few months’ time and the matter might be kept on hold till the next session of the Parliament. The government and the opposition parties should push for it immediately with whatsoever possible amendment required. The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956, was completely based on instances where women are trafficked for forced sex and prostitution, but now trafficking is being done for other purposes, including slave work, forced labour, begging activities and children are targeted more nowadays. The new proposed bill, which prohibits all forms of trafficking with stringent punishments and rehabilitation and preventive measures, is hence, essential as there is a sense of urgency towards this in our society with the number of cases shooting up than ever before in recent past. More than 63 million women are “missing” statistically across India, and more than 21 million girls are unwanted by their families. The data, available with the Ministry of Home Affairs, shows that the number of untraced children in the country has increased by 84 per cent between 2013 and 2015. The total number of untraced children in 2015 was 62,988 as against 34,244 in the year 2013. The number of untraced children in the country has increased by 84 per cent between 2013 and 2015. The situation is even worst in 2018. 180 children go missing in India every day. Most may never be found. As of 2018, more than 11,000 children have not been found in Maharashtra and 9,001 remain untraced in the national capital. The reality is similarly bleak in Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, which have witnessed around 60 per cent growth in the number of untraced children in the last three years.

The recent baby-selling scandal associated with the Missionaries of Charity in Ranchi, cases of child rape against a self-styled godman in Delhi, nine-year-old girl raped by a Maulana in a Madrasa – all point towards involvement of religious organisations. Bachpan Bachao Andolan had approached the Supreme Court in 2015 to get a strong judgment, which ordered all state governments and central government to compulsorily register all child homes, child care centres and orphanages to ensure that they work in a transparent manner, open to regulations and checks by government agencies. This made an impact by the number of such registered centres reaching 6,000 from a mere 800. Unfortunately, faith organisations are left loose by state governments. With frequent inspection and legitimate licensing brought for them as well, the government needs to ensure strict enforcement of the judgement. Also, faith leaders, irrespective of religion or sect, should come out more strongly to oust their followers/members, who are involved in such cases. As four children are abused or raped every hour, during the same timeframe we are now witnessing eight child-missing cases. The fact that child pornography is now a $10 billion industry is a disturbing development.

According to a petition against the bill which has garnered the support of over 4,000 sex workers from the country, legal constructions of sexual services as exploitation contribute to a climate of stigma and scorn towards persons in sex work and the work itself, thus endorsing state violence and discrimination. Sex workers argued that the community had been making concerted efforts to contribute to India’s health interventions and other campaigns. Yet the bill tried to take away their right to profession by continuing to stigmatise sex work. The ambiguous terms of the bill do not spell out such exceptions. Another point raised by transgender activists was the provision of forced relocation of victim to their hometown. While the relocation does not take into account the victim’s wishes or consent, it further stands to endanger the victim by sending them back to a place that they may wilfully have fled.

While the prevention of bonded and enforced labour is one of the major pegs on which the amendments were made, experts claimed that the bill was anything but pro-labour. The bills did nothing to improve upon the already existing anti-labour exploitation laws. Unless three keys of labour rights – recruitment, wages and working conditions — are regulated, forced labour and trafficking cannot stop. The bill is completely silent on these aspects. The new bill also includes child victims of trafficking. Child rights activists have raised concerns about the proposed ‘rehabilitation’ of children by institutionalising them, a practice which has often faced international censure. Questions have also been raised about who will be responsible for these rehabilitation homes, whether it will be the Child Welfare Committee or will it be a new body. The bill also prevents women who have been rescued by the agency to decide for themselves. It takes the victim out of incarceration, only to have others continue to dictate her decisions. It also hurts women who migrate to the different places in search of work, elope with their lovers or are fleeing violence or mistreatment at home by criminalising those in the adult sex industry. It does not address the reasons for increased migration that leads to undocumented work in unorganised sectors such as labour and sex trade. As experts pointed out, the new law does not fill any of the existing lacunae in trafficking laws but only adds to the legislative clutter. Activists and experts have called for the bill to be passed on to a standing committee for further consultation, this time including all stakeholders, before being made an Act.

RelatedPosts

Is Indian Mainstream Media a game changer in 2019 elections?

February 21, 2019

One Nation, One Election not happening?

February 20, 2019

 

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on [email protected])

Tags: Anti-TraffickingBachpan Bachao AndolanHaryanaLabourMadhya Pradeshmonsoon
Previous Post

Bridge collapsed due to corrosion, excess load: railway report

Next Post

Won't let Anti-Trafficking Bill exploit us: Sex workers

Vaidehi

Vaidehi

Vaidehi Taman is an Investigative Journalist, Editor, Ethical Hacker, Philanthropist, and an Author. She is Editor-in-Chief of Newsmakers Broadcasting and Communications Pvt. Ltd. Since 9 years, which features an English daily tabloid – Afternoon Voice, a Marathi web portal – Mumbai Manoos, monthly magazines like Hackers5, Beyond the news (international) and Maritime Bridges. She is also an EC Council Certified Ethical Hacker, Certified Security Analyst and is also a Licensed Penetration Tester which she caters for her sister-concern Kaizen-India Infosec Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Related Posts

Editorial

Is Indian Mainstream Media a game changer in 2019 elections?

by Vaidehi
February 21, 2019
Editorial

One Nation, One Election not happening?

by Vaidehi
February 20, 2019
Editorial

Friendless Sena is feeble without BJP

by Vaidehi
February 19, 2019
Editorial

BJP’s double standards exposed on #Article370

by Vaidehi
February 18, 2019
Editorial

Isn’t it enough to act against terror attacks on Jawans?

by Vaidehi
February 15, 2019
Editorial

Mulayam blesses Modi to come to power by denting Akhilesh

by Web Team
February 14, 2019
Editorial

Biased Ambedkar bargains on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

by Vaidehi
February 13, 2019
Editorial

Are Nehru, Gandhi, and Savarkar most hated leaders by Opponents?

by Vaidehi
February 12, 2019
Next Post

Won't let Anti-Trafficking Bill exploit us: Sex workers

Prabhadevi Station, Prabhadevi, Elphinstone Road

Mumbai’s Elphinstone Road station officially renamed to Prabhadevi

Rahul claims RTI Act as useless with amendments

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest

Ulhasnagar Sindhis drifting away from Hinduism

December 28, 2018

Swami Nithyananda assures No More Blinds!

January 24, 2019

Sex rackets in the name of Friendship club

April 27, 2017

Trolls to true followers triumph Swami Nithyananda

January 24, 2019

Man sets afire 40-year-old woman, her 2 kin; 1 dies

13

21-year-old girl tries to sell kidney to meet demand of her lover, saved

10

Man’s hand chopped off in MP for enquiring about missing cow

10

The silent Hindu resurgence in Kerala

6

Michael B Jordan to star in Denzel Washington’s directorial ‘Journal for Jordan’

February 22, 2019

Brooke Shields to star in gender non-conforming drama ‘Glamorous’

February 22, 2019

World Congress of Dance — A Magical Orb of Oneness

February 22, 2019

Eminem not happy with Netflix over ‘The Punisher’ cancellation

February 22, 2019

Poll

[totalpoll id=”193931″]

ADVERTISEMENT
  • BJP’s double standards exposed on #Article370

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Army Major Bisht killed in IED explosion was to tie the knot next month

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Dawood gives a portion of his narco-money to Jihadist-Islamist groups — Part II

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Swami Nithyananda assures No More Blinds!

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Horrible, says Donald Trump on Pulwama attack; sends a message to Pak

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
ADVERTISEMENT
Afternoon Voice

Copyright © 2018 Afternoon Voice.

Navigate Site

  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Support Parallel Media

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Top News
  • City News
    • Ahmedabad
    • Amritsar
    • Bangalore
    • Chandigarh
    • Chennai
    • Delhi
    • Hyderabad
    • Jaipur
    • Kolkata
    • Lucknow
    • Ludhiana
    • Mumbai
    • Nagpur
    • Nashik
    • Pune
    • Thane
  • Nation
    • Andhra Pradesh
    • Bihar
    • Chhattisgarh
    • Delhi & NCR
    • Goa
    • Gujarat
    • Jammu & Kashmir
    • Karnataka
    • Madhya Pradesh
    • Maharashtra
    • Northeast
    • Punjab & Haryana
    • Rajasthan
    • Tamil Nadu
    • Uttar Pradesh
    • West Bengal
    • Other States
  • World
    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia
    • Australia
    • Europe
    • Middle East
  • Business
    • Aviation
    • Banking & Finance
    • Budget & Policies
    • Economy
    • Companies
    • Market
    • Auto
    • Startup
    • Property
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
  • Editorial
  • Opinion
    • Column
    • Diary
    • Letters
  • Epaper

Copyright © 2018 Afternoon Voice.

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Fill the forms bellow to register

*By registering into our website, you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.