State recorded one human trafficking case in 2021,7 arrests
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, March 21 2023:
Manipur recorded only one case related with human trafficking in the year 2021 and arrest of seven people while Assam recorded highest human trafficking cases among the North Eastern states in the same year with 203 cases.
As'per the report of National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) for the year 2021, there were 209 human trafficking cases in the North East in 2021 and total of 366 people arrested in connection with these cases.
Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim had no human trafficking case whereas Assam alone recorded 203 cases followed by Arunachal Pradesh with three cases and Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura one each.
A total of 349 people connected with 203 human trafficking cases in Assam were arrested while seven people connected with one human trafficking case in Manipur were arrested that year.
Arunachal Pradesh reported arrest of five people in connection with three human trafficking cases while four people were arrested in Meghalaya in a human trafficking case recorded in that year.
Tripura recorded only one human trafficking case and arrest of one person, the NCRB report said.
Constitutionally, it is the responsibility of the states/Union Territories to deal and stop human trafficking but the Centre has been helping the states/ Union Territories significantly.
Under the 'Nirbhaya Fund', the Union ministry of home affairs provided Rs 98.86 crore to states/Union Territories in the year 2019-20 and 2020-21 to strengthen anti-human trafficking units.
The ministry also conducts 'judicial colloquium' and 'state level conference' in states/Union Territories from time to time to aware judicial and police officials on human trafficking laws and extend financial help in getting information.
The ministry also issues advisories and guidelines to states/Union Territories from time to time to prevent human trafficking crimes.
With the amendment of National Investigation Agency Act, 2008 in the year 2019, the NIA has been allowed to investigate into human trafficking cases while bilateral MoU have been signed with neighbouring and other countries like Bangladesh, UAE, Cambodia and Myanmar to tackle cross-border human trafficking.
Apart from this, the grant-in-aid has been provided to the Border Security Force (BSF) to establish human trafficking units, the NCRB report mentioned.