Page 22 - English Tehelka Issue 1&2

CoverStory
unsolved. In Doomni, a tea estate in the district, one tion of tea labourers. awareness among them about
in every two houses has a case of missing children or filing a missing complaint to police, or reporting to
trafficking that is mostly unreported. This basically the administration, to Gaon Bura (Village head) or
stems from the fact that most parents are not even NGOs is almost nil.
aware that a complaint could be made to the author- as told by kalita, there have been some cam-
ities in the first place. In fact, trafficking in Baksa has paigns, drives and mass-awareness programmes by
increased two-fold over the years because almost 90 the local authorities, student union groups beside
per cent parents do not file a police complaint, thus NGOs, and the Child Welfare Committee (CWC).
no First Information Report (FIR) can be initiated, however, such initiatives have failed to sensitise the
when somebody goes missing. locals about the gravity of the matter.
Tehelka inquired with Officer-in-Charge (OC) Baksa is an administrative district under the
Pabitra kalita, Mushalpur Police Station, about why Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) in North-West-
such a large number of people fail to report or file ern part of assam. On February 10, 2003, the BTC
a complaint at the time of the incident, to which he accord was signed to form BT aD (Bodoland
replied, “locals are reluctant to file a report, first, Territorial autonomous District) with four districts
fearing a complaint to police will incur them a fee, — kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa and Udalguri. The sex
ratio in Baksa is 974 females against 1,000 males. In
general, Baksa is predominantly inhabited by Bodos
followed by kachari, assamese, adhibasi (adivasi),
Ethnic riots in the Sarania-kachari, koch-Rajbonshi, Bengali and other
religious minorities, as per government data.
state in 2008 and 2012 Remote villages
resulted in the upsurge aRe haven foR
of trafficking to double. tRaffickeRs
riots make it easier for around five hours’ drive from Baksa is kokrajhar
district, which is the sixth-worst trafficking zone
traffickers to exploit in assam. On an average, one child goes missing
or is trafficked from kokrajhar everyday, accord-
the oppressed ing to NGO North east Research and Social Work
Networking (NeRSWN) that works towards the
population and smuggle education and betterment of underprivileged
children in the area.
according to NeRSWN, over 300 forest and bor-
children effortlessly der villages in kokrajhar are susceptible to serious
child trafficking as the government is fearful of
from camps entering these deep pockets. The main targets are
children from the Santhali, adhibasi and Bodo com-
munities. Most of these children are trafficked to
Delhi due to the high demand for domestic helpers
and second, lack of evidence to prove a matter.” and sex workers, and also to haryana, kerala, Guja-
“In most of the cases, we (police) press the families rat, Mumbai, Punjab as well as several other parts of
to file a report or at least acknowledge the offender; North and South India. here again, the number of
failing to do so makes the case frail to investigate parents filing missing complaints with the police is
further. We have been doing timely campaigns and miserably low.
mass-awareness programmes on human trafficking Porous gateways to neighbouring Bhutan, Silig-
with support from CWC (State Child Welfare Com- uri, Cooch Bihar and West Bengal help traffickers
mittee), NGOs and student unions,” kalita added. with easy escapes for smuggling of young boys and
among the four tea gardens in Baksa district, girls and makes kokrajhar a haven for cross-border
namely Doomni Tea estate (Te), Nagrijuli Te, trafficking. Not only this, traffickers target soft spots
Menaka Te, and Fatemabad Te, trafficking is at its like Deosri, Dadgiri and other untouched villages in
peak in Doomni, which has a predominant popula- Chirang district.
tehelka / 31 january 2018 22 www.tehelka.com
18-27 CStory.indd 6-7
trafficking
human trafficking has been rampant in kokra- ASSAm
jhar. however, the ethnic riots of 2008 between
Bodos and adivasis and 2012 riots between
Bodos and Bengali speaking Muslims resulted in the 2016: and 1032 in previous years).
upsurge of trafficking to double. almost 4,00,000 91 cases reported among them were 1,474 girls
people from 400 villages got displaced in the riots total 249 victims trafficked and 939 boys.
of 2012. One would still find relief camps running in (163 females and 86 males); (source: NcrB report 2016)
kashugaon, karigaon and other areas in kokrajhar, 92 victims rescued (63
some running since the 1980s, inhabited by Santhali females and 29 males); From 2012 to 2014 (october),
and other displaced people. The riots make it easier assam stands at 11th position a total of 4,754 children were
for traffickers to exploit the oppressed population in all-India rank on trafficking; still untraced in the state.
and smuggle children, both young boys and girls, purpose of Human trafficking: (source: ascpcr report 2016)
effortlessly from such camps. Forced Labour (36), sexual
exploitation for prostitution SoMe MIssINg cases
(51), domestic servitude (5); oF Baksa
tRafficking victims cases convicted by court: 0 Bandhani Nag, Bilu,
(source: NcrB report 2016) or deepti kachwa (16) went
missing in March 2017 anita
When Chancharang Narzary was trafficked in June, toppo (30) went missing in
2015 for bonded labour work from his village Soru- 2015: september 2017.
1,494 cases reported
para, he was 14-years-old and studying in the ninth assam was at top in all-India sheila eka (age 14, at the time
standard. The accused named Romesh took him to
she went missing in 2012)
rank based on trafficking.
Guwahati, on the pretext of getting him a good job (source: NcrB report 2015) sunita Lakra (age 14, in 2010
and better lifestyle and Rs. 2,000 as monthly salary
when she was reported miss-
in the hotel industry. his 53-year-old mother, Rom- MIssINg cHILdreN ing) chandani Lakra (age 15,
phan Narzary, went berserk when she didn’t hear
in 2009 when she was
total 2,413 children were
from her pisala (son) for two years. Today, Chancha-
rang is back to home after he finally managed to flee missing till 2016 (1381 in 2016 reported missing)
in September 2017.
BottleneckS
no word from him (Chancharang) for two years. he 1. Lack of data with regard to child protection
“Romesh took my son and after that there was
2. Lack of awareness about child protection issues and services
was forced to do menial and tedious jobs at a small among other key line departments & mechanisms to tackle it
hotel. and, he was never paid a single salary in two
among the public and other line departments
years. I had a horrendous time away from my son 3. Lack of infrastructural and educational facilities
for two years. What and how he was doing, alive or
4. Lack of knowledge among officials on their functions and
minimum convergence between government officials
dead, I had no idea. I am happy he has returned. We 5. Lack of specially trained manpower
are poor people. We will see what we can do for him
so that he doesn’t have to be desperate again to earn
6. destination coordination problems: police is given the respon-
money,” his mother said. sibility to bring back the children but they don’t have funds for
such cases of reintegration and family reunification.
another distressing story is that of 15-year-
old korobi (name changed). Never in her wildest (Source: ASCPCR report 2016)
dreams had she thought that her visit to a near-
by village market would cost her her childhood. DeAling with victimS
korobi was trafficked from Siliguri to kokrajhar, that after a trafficking victim (minor or adult) is rescued, what
are apart by a distance that can be covered in three- comes as the next level of challenge is counselling. Tehelka
and-a-half hours via train and six hours by road. In spoke to gauri goswami, counsellor, Navajeevan home, acrd,
2016, korobi and her friends went to a local market assam, about difficulties in dealing with trafficked victims. on
where two unknown men gave her some eatables this she said, “post the rescue operation, in the initial period at
laced with sedatives that made her unconscious. homes, victims are seen immediately isolating themselves from
after that, she was abducted. the world, while some get extremely aggressive. their past expe-
korobi, who had to go through a harrowing rience even inflicts depression, mental illness, besides leaving
experience of sexual exploitation for almost a year, scars of the past. It is essential that they are treated with utmost
sounded terrified as she narrated her ordeal. “Those love and respect, feel secure in the homes.” Working since 2009
men gave me something to eat which made me at Navajeevan, goswami said, “We help them indulge in recrea-
unconscious. I tried to resist but they gagged me, tional activities like singing, yoga, dance, craft work and various
preventing my cries from reaching anyone’s ears. I hobbies; participate in community-level programmes.”
tehelka / 31 january 2018 23 www.tehelka.com
12/01/18 3:46 PM