Jharkhand government launches crackdown on illicit baby business

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, May 13, 2015: Waking up from its slumber, the Jharkhand government has finally launched a crackdown on the illicit baby business that is taking deep roots in the Capital’s underbelly.

 

Mail Today had on May 10 reported that girls and young women - mostly from Jharkhand - were brought to Delhi on the pretext of being employed as helps, then sexually assaulted by the unscrupulous owners and employees of placement agencies and forced to bear babies.

Reacting to the Mail Today report, the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights in Jharkhand has asked the superintendent of police (Gumla district) and district circle officers to investigate the matter and submit a report to the rights panel within 15 days.

The police have registered a First Information Report (FIR) against a Delhi-based placement agency following a complaint from the families of two girls who are still in the custody of the agency. The girls, aged 15 and 17 years, had reached out to their families in Jharkhand seeking help. "The Jharkhand Police have registered an FIR against Jharkhand Manpower. The investigation is under way," Alakh Singh, a member of the Jharkhand Child Welfare Committee, told Mail Today.

Adding to the woes of these young women, who are treated as "baby-producing machines", the placement agency owners start the process of auctioning the yet to be born babies to prospective clients from the moment they conceive. The price of a baby ranges from Rs1 lakh to Rs.4 lakh, depending upon how old the foetus is.

"This is an extremely serious matter and we have asked the superintendent of police of the Gumla district and other district officers to prepare a report and submit to us within 15 days. After it is filed, we will get in touch with the officials in Delhi and start the rescue operation at the earliest," Sanjay Mishra, a member of the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR), told Mail Today.

A constant fear among young women in the Maoist-affected Jharkhand drives them to the national Capital in search of jobs. As several cases of human trafficking are reported across the state, the government is planning to make the registration of placement agencies in Jharkhand mandatory.

"The plan has been approved by the government. We had a meeting with the chief minister where he gave a final nod to the decision. All the placement agencies operating from Jharkhand will have to registers themselves with the authorities concerned. The process is likely to kick off in next 15 days," Mishra said.

According to the officials, placement agencies are playing a major role in trafficking minor girls as well as children for the purpose of labour, sex slavery and forced marriages. The traffickers have changed their modus operandi with the changes in law and society.

In most of the cases, traffickers are known to the victims. The offenders convince the victim and her/his families and sell them to placement agencies.

The placement agencies hire people to target girls and young women. They then lure these women with job offers or sometimes kidnap them before bringing them to main cities of the state. From these cities, another person takes the victims to railway stations from where they are handed over to a third person, who then brings the women to Delhi. After reaching Delhi, the victims are further handed over to another person and brought to placement agencies.

"We have received the information about the FIR and are initiating an inquiry. A team of the Jharkhand Police has launched an investigation into the matter," S.N. Pradhan, a spokesperson for the Jharkhand police, said.

The infamous Panna Lal case

The hide and seek of Panna Lal and his wife came to an end on October 19 in 2014 with their arrest by Crime Branch Delhi and Jharkhand Anti-human Trafficking Unit under various charges from Shakurpur area of Delhi. Thirty-one-year-old Panna Lal and his 37-year-old wife Sunita were most wanted in various FIRs in Jharkhand.

Human Trafficking kingpin, Panna Lal and his wife have been trafficking minor and young tribal girls from the remote areas of Jharkhand.

Panna Lal and Sunita were running more than 200 illegal placement agencies with different names in Delhi whereby they were bringing minor girls from Jharkhand and were selling them as domestic slaves with an advance payment of Rs.20,000 to Rs.30, 000 per girl, in the affluent house of Delhi.

Panna Lal and his wife used to target the minor girls and the most vulnerable families of remote and tribal areas of Jharkhand. Once a girl is being targeted, she is lured with false promises of marriage, good job, education or good life. Families were also given assurance that the girl will be given a good life and her salary will be sent to them every month. After the girl is taken to Delhi, she is confined and placed into houses by these placement agencies of Panna Lal, to work from early morning till late nights without any break or holiday.

The salary of the girl is also taken by Panna Lal. Every girl is placed in a house for a period of 11 months after which they are shifted to a new address. The victims are not allowed to go back to their home or to meet their relatives.

 

Courtesy: Indiatoday