“Human trafficking exists because of the elements which are maligning the honour of the country and inflicting wounds on minds and hearts of the victims
Ganeshi Lal, Governor
Bhubaneswar: At least 350 children from the state were rescued from Telangana in 2018 and the youngest among them was a six-year-old who was engaged in a brick-kiln, founder of Hyderabad-based NGO Prajwala, Sunitha Krishnan, said at the State Level Conference on Human Trafficking Wednesday.
She said that Odisha is one of the highest source areas for human trafficking. On a regular basis, children and young women are trafficked to other states for manual labour. “These children stay in hazardous conditions and exploited by their employers on a regular basis. A 16-year-old girl from Odisha was raped in a brick kiln in Hyderabad Tuesday,” said Sunitha.
The need of the hour is a comprehensive legislation to check the menace of human trafficking. Legislation in this regard has already been passed in the Lok Sabha but it is yet to get cleared in the Upper House of the Parliament which is a matter of serious concern, she added.
“Human trafficking has acquired many forms today which includes, bonded labour, sexual exploitation, organ trade, surrogacy, begging and many more. Taking all aspects into consideration, a comprehensive law needs to be implemented to prevent children from being trafficked,” Sunitha asserted.
On the occasion Governor Ganeshi Lal said, human trafficking is going on because of the elements which are maligning the honour of the country and inflicting wounds on minds and hearts of the victims. “They should be given no leniency. The malady has existed for long but the police, press and politicians need to come together and eliminate the evil once and forever,” Lal said.
Director General of Police RP Sharma said that human trafficking is a multi-dimensional problem which requires concerted and comprehensive effort to deal with the issue effectively.