In August, the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), which provides free legal services to the weaker sections of society, submitted a report to the Supreme Court with recommendations for the prevention of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation and for the rescue and rehabilitation of its victims. This was following a directive of the court while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by the Human Rights Law Network on behalf of the anti-trafficking organisation Prajwala in 2004 seeking the creation of a victim-protection protocol. The NALSA report exposes several gaps in the existing law.
It has recommended the setting up of a nodal agency at the national and State levels and a district-level task force to deal with the issue of prevention of trafficking and rescue and rehabilitation of rescued sex workers. Additional Solicitor General Neeraj Kishan Kaul told the bench consisting of Justices Anil R. Dave, Madan B. Lokur and Kurien Joseph that the Centre had examined NALSA’s recommendations and was “in agreement with most of them”.
A Central Advisory Committee on Combating Human Trafficking, which met thereafter, said that there was a need to differentiate between voluntary sex workers and those who were forced into such activities and that the current report was prepared with reference to trafficked victims only. Several States, too, put forth their ideas. Gujarat, shockingly, said that there was no serious problem of trafficking in the State that it was not advisable to have a separate police station for trafficking, and that corporate social responsibility (CSR) funding may be tapped for the rehabilitation of victims.
This story is from the November 13, 2015 edition of FRONTLINE.
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This story is from the November 13, 2015 edition of FRONTLINE.
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