MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE STATE/UT NODAL OFFICERS FOR HUMAN TRAFFICKING HELD BY ADDITIONAL SECRETARY (CS) ON 30.9.

2011

The 10th meeting of State Nodal Officers on

trafficking in human beings was

held under the Chairpersonship of Smt. B. Bhamathi, AS (CS), MHA on 30 th September, 2011 to review progress in the implementation of the Comprehensive Scheme on strengthening the law enforcement response to trafficking through Training of Trainers (TOT) programmes and by establishing Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs), sanctioned by MHA and to review other measures taken by States/ UT Administrations for effective prevention, protection and prosecution in the crime of Human Trafficking. A list of participants is at Annexure I. There was no representation from Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Jharkhand, Sikkim, Tripura and Ministry of Labour.

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Ms. Swati Chauhan, Judge, Special Court on ITPA, Mumbai was kind enough to

accept the invitation for a presentation on the working of Special Court on ITPA in Mumbai.

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After opening remarks by the Chair, Ms. Sangeeta Verma, Economic Adviser,

Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) made a presentation: She informed that the MWCD is nodal Ministry as far as legislations and other welfare schemes like Ujjawala and Swadhar in regard to empowerment of women, trafficking of women and children is concerned. She appreciated the initiatives of MHA on setting up of AHTUs and complimented the MHA for taking special initiatives and monitoring mechanisms for its successful implementation in the States/UTs. She further stated that the data on AHTUs would be useful and stressed that the States need to take the lead in prevention of trafficking. She informed that the exercise on the vulnerability mapping on women and children on the parameters of poverty, migration, in search of employment is being taken in collaboration with UN agency and requested that the reports in this regard must be expedited by the States.

She also expressed the view that the rehabilitation component also needs to be emphasized to effectively address the problem as in the absence of it the situation is back to square one for the victims. She informed that 73

rehabilitation homes under Ujjawala scheme are functioning at Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, J&K and Uttarakhand with a capacity to accommodate 50 inmates in each home. She also stated the importance of coordination among state home departments and State WCD and NGOs. She also said that if there is a requirement for new homes, such proposal can be sent to Ministry for consideration. MWCD would advise states, accordingly. (Action: Nodal Officers/MWCD) The representative of Madhya Pradesh stated that there are only 2 shelter homes and stressed the need for more shelter homes. The representative of MWCD stated that the matter would be taken up with the States and based on the report of the States, further action in the matter would be taken. (Action: MWCD) She further stated that the Central Advisory Committee of WCD headed by Secretary, WCD held a meeting in May, 2011 and recommended to develop a system of home visit/verification protocol at the home of the trafficked victim in consultation with MHA in coordination with the nodal officers of the States, NGOs concerned in each State. AS(CS) informed that MHA had initiated the process of formulating the protocol. MWCD was requested to constitute a committee with representation from MEA, MHA, Ministry of Labour among others. MHA would nominate some nodal officers in consultation with the states to assist MWCD. (Action: MWCD) She informed that the training facilities are presently being offered by National Institute of Peoples Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD)
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and MHA can avail this facility for training of AHTUs officers as no fee component is involved. 4. As regards data of missing children, AS (CS) observed that there is a strong

nexus between missing children and trafficking and the data of the States and the data of NCRB, as received from the states, is completely inadequate and not reporting the magnitude of the problem of missing of children as it exists. The reports of missing children are merely registered at the police stations of the States in the form of General Dairy Registers except Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Delhi where a formal FIR is being registered which warrants an investigation. AS (CS) observed that states will also need to explore integration of the data maintained by NGOs, adoption agencies, child welfare committees, web based missing children data base maintained by Childline etc.. She emphasized the urgent need and improvement in the collection of data on missing children by NCRB. (Action: States) 5. AS(CS) observed that rescue operations conducted by NGOs on their own are

not part of police records and contributes to under reporting of crime. Hence it is important that law enforcement systems are proactive and ensure that requests for rescue is promptly responded to and cases are registered. AS (CS) further observed that once a child is rescued, it must be compared with the missing children data and linked up with tracing of missing children. (Action: States) 6. The representative from Kerala informed that the rescued victims of trafficking

are not always available at the time of prosecution stages to give their evidence. AS(CS) observed that it is for the police to ensure the whereabouts of those victims by noting their addresses and help of shelter homes etc. may be taken if the victims are staying in shelter homes. This is important in the interest of securing higher conviction rates. The need to increasingly avail video conferencing during trials, was emphasized to ensure victim friendly trials. Further, keeping in view the safety and security of

victims. AS (CS) also observed that protection of the victims of trafficking in transit is also an important issue for the police to address. (Action: States) 7. The representative of Kerala requested for the awareness campaigns for the

judicial officers and training sessions for them on the lines of NALSA. AS(CS) informed that MHA and MOJ will be collaborating in bringing out. a training module for the judiciary. A consultation involving the judiciary is being facilitated by MOJ in November, 2011. 8. As regards issue of placement agencies and their role in human trafficking, AS (CS) instructed that since placement agencies are mostly from Delhi and other Metros, source States must take up this issue with the Delhi police and other Metro Police. The case of Sundargarh in Orissa from where Orissa Govt. has found that unsafe migration has taken place, the involvement of placement agencies from Delhi in such migration needs to be investigated thoroughly to understand the complicity of various agencies and traffickers. As the Labour Ministry is the nodal agency for ensuring a watch on the activities of the placement agencies and it would be fruitful if the Labour Ministry and Labour Department of Govt. of NCT of Delhi could act in coordination with Delhi Police and Government of Orissa in this regard to sort out this issue. AS (CS) instructed that a review of this will be taken up in the next meeting and desired some proactive work is started right now in this regard. GNCTD agreed to take a lead in coordinating this matter and sharing a list of placement agencies for further action with Orissa Govt. (Action: GNCTD/DP/Orissa) 9 Prof. K. Elumalai, Director, School of Law, IGNOU alongwith Ms. Mansi, IGNOU It was

made a presentation regarding Anti Human Trafficking Certificate Course.

informed that course fee which was earlier Rs. 2000/- has been further reduced to Rs. 1000/-. It was observed that very few nodal officers have enrolled. IGNOU representative mentioned that the study centre will function when the number reaches minimum number of 30. The nodal officers were therefore requested to ensure adequate levels of participation by disseminating information on the course to an
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audience wider than that of the police. It is clarified that even if the course has begun, enrollment can be done now and exams can be taken in the next session. It was also observed that there was a discrepancy in the numbers available with IGNOU and the States. IGNOUs number was lower than the state figures, which will require to be looked into by IGNOU. IGNOU representative also informed that VC will be taking a video conference with all the regional directors to review the enrollment into the course. MHA was also requested to participate. (Action: IGNOU/States) 10. AS(CS) reviewed the performance of the State Governments/UTs as per

agenda of the meeting and observed that many states have not sent their full report on the agenda points and some states have sent partial reports. Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Tripura, Chandigarh, Delhi,

Puducherry & Meghalaya have sent their full reports. Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Nagaland, Orissa, Punjab, Uttarakhand, West Bengal & A&N Islands have sent their partial reports. No report was received from Uttar Pradesh, Nagaland & Jammu & Kashmir states. Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, Mizoram, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand, A&N Islands Delhi, Lakshadweep & Puducherry have sent their monthly report as per the proforma devised by MHA. The status of performance on various identified parameters has been shown at Annexure II.

o AS(CS) also observed that many States have conducted only 2 days TOT workshop as against the norm of 3 days and in which case no reimbursement is entitled from MHA. AS (CS) informed that budget for State level and District level workshop is for 3 lakhs and 1 lakhs, respectively.

o Future review meetings would be reviewing performance AHTU-wise and states may report performance individual units in the existing proforma. (Action : States) o AS (CS) also observed that in absence of UCs it is not possible to release further installments. (Action : States) o AS (CS) observed that the next review meeting will also cover the aspect of organized crime involvement in human trafficking. o AS (CS), MHA observed that the cases of rescue operations conducted by the NGOs go unreported as these cases are not registered. The importance of coordination between the NGOs and police was emphasized. (Action : States) o AS (CS) also observed that MHA has received state reports published by Mizoram and Tamil Nadu. She desired that the report must also be circulated to all states by the publishing state. She instructed that all other states which have confirmed to send the same by end-October, 2011 and those which have not started any work in this regard must take up this work on priority basis and share the report before the next review meeting. (Action : States) o AS (CS) also reviewed the registration of cases and sending missing report of children to CBI. Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Goa, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh. Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and West Bengal have not sent any report to CBI in this regard. She further

reiterated to the States that the report in this regard may invariably be sent

to CBI with copy to MHA. CBI were requested to analyse and share their findings with the states for further action at the next meeting. (Action : CBI/States) o The issue of 33 children who were missing from Manipur were rescued in Rajasthan / Kerala was also discussed. The officer from Manipur stated that situation becomes complex when parents say that the children were sent with their consent. It was clarified that law makes even parents culpable where children land up in exploitative situations. Hence, Manipur representative was advised to visit the states in this connection. (Action : Manipur) o AS (CS) also reviewed the registration of cases in regard to Crime data for human trafficking. AS (CS) instructed that the next review meeting will

cover the number of cases and asked the States to add a column on the number of cases registered in their reporting format and further instructed that the sections of law under which the cases were registered, should also be mentioned by the States. (Action : States) o MHA will further fine tune the proforma for reporting on Human Trafficking. (Action : MHA) 11. The representative of Mizoram, explained the profile of trafficking and their

modus operandi of the rescue operation of a victim which extended to at least 3 or 4 states in the form of organized crime across the States of India. In this case, a girl resident of Mizoram was trafficked to Mumbai and the trafficker, who is wanted in other cases in Mumbai, held her captive for more than a year before selling her to the brothels in Mumbai. This rescue operation was conducted with the active cooperation of police of Mumbai and Mizoram He also mentioned a rescue case from Haryana citing as a good example of Inter-State cooperation.
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12.

Ms. Swati Chauhan, Judge, Special Court on ITPA in Mumbai

made a

presentation and explained the positive aspects of ITPA and discussed about the enabling orders passed by her Court in regard to welfare of victims. She stated that when Mumbai High Court was accorded the fast track court to deal with human trafficking cases, many cases of ITPA were pending before the Court which were more than 10 years old. She also explained the salient aspects of ITPA ( the only Act that contains the court to have dialogue with the victim as the trafficked victim). She also emphasized that a victim is always under threat from the traffickers and the court should decide the question of whether the guardian is suitable to take care and custody of the trafficked victim and guardian is genuine and not a disguised trafficker. 13. She explained the salient features of the special court which are as follows: a) Speedy disposal and uniformity in trials b) Monitor rehabilitation and re-integration c) Concentrate on preventing re-victimization d) Expedite the retribution through Task Forces e) Identify re-trafficking cases f) Identify habitual offenders g) Closure of brothels h) Identifying cases of re-victimisation i) Achieve the objective of ITPA 14. She further stated that there was a specific direction to the fast track court that

cases pending for more than 10 years under ITPA sections to be disposed off in a time bound manner. She informed that as on 31.12.2010 no cases of more than 10 years are pending in Mumbai Court in regard to ITPA. She informed that review of number of cases disposed off, bails granted, trials conducted/concluded and number rehabilitated to achieve the desired objective of ITPA in addition to seeking periodic reports from the
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NGOs, monitor the rehabilitation status of victims of ITPA. On the issue of closure of brothels, she stated that more than 55 brothels were closed. As regards brothels, she said that the meaning of brothels, in the present day context, could include massage parlour, dance bars and even a car. 15. She informed that when 10-14 adolescents/youth were produced before her

Court for trial on charges of pimping for prostitution, she awarded community service as penalty and they obtained a service certificate from them to make them repent for their actions and to lead a respectful life after their service in the shelter home. She found that this kind of punishment had a very positive impact on the offenders, especially the youth. She also informed that the trafficked victims have mentioned majestic (Majestic is the central inter-state bus stand in Bengaluru) as one of the places from where they were trafficked. She stressed the importance of creation of awareness among various stake holders if HT is to be tackled in right earnest. Nodal Officer, Karnataka was asked to take a note and submit report on preventive surveillance / action. (Action : Karnataka) 16. AS (CS) requested that DP and other States, where crimes are being

registered in big numbers and the old cases are pending trial, must take immediate action to facilitate the setting up of fast track court for Human Trafficking on the lines of Maharashtra. (Action : States) 17. A presentation was made by ARZ, an NGO of Goa. The NGO is involved in

combating the crime of Human Trafficking and they explained the functioning and utility of a web portal run by them. The presentation included the modalities of uploading the information profile of NGOs, search for NGOs, uploading the information in regard to missing children, FIRs, photos including their physical description/distinctive features. The NGO is also embarking on the work of institutionalizing the Inter Active Voice Responsive System (IVRS) in regard to missing children to benefit those who have no facility of internet, in the 3 languages of Hindi, English and Bangla. The NGO sought

the active cooperation of government, civil society, NGOs, nodal officers of AHTUs, for improving their services. 18. AS (CS) impressed upon the participants to disseminate the availability of the

above website throughout their state and encourage them to access the website for getting information on missing children and proactively rescue and trace missing children. (Action : States) 19. Mrs. Savitha Bakhri, Deputy Secretary, NHRC made a presentation in regard to

Missing Children. The Committee on NHRC set up in 2007 to enquire into the children missing from Nithari village and also other incidents of missing children in the country, had observed as follows: a) There is no system of registering FIR in the case of missing children as complaints of this type comes under the category of non-cognizable offence. b) Only a General Diary entry is made and follow-up is only at the level of SHO and within PS limits. The above committee made 21 recommendations relating to : Reduce delay in reporting According priority All police stations to have missing persons squad All Police Stations to have a separate Registering Officer Mandatory reporting of NCPCR within 24 hours of complaint Involvement of PRIs Involvement of NGOs Establishment of a national data base for missing person and children
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Reviving of State Crime Records Bureau Precautionary measures for children in schools, colleges and at public places.

Since incomplete ATRs were received by NHRC, NHRC has prescribed a proforma for reporting by the concerned states. In view of above, AS (CS) informed that this will be reviewed at the next meeting. Copy of the report to NHRC would also be sent to MHA. (Action : States) 20. While making a presentation on the new format in which the States are to

respond in regard to missing children, representative of NCRB, Shri PRK Naidu, Joint Director admitted that there is no specific and clear data available with NCRB and the information available with NCRB is very sketchy and insisted that the data on missing children are proposed to be collected on the lines of CCTNS project where the

reporting format for States is on the basis of age groups of 0-6, 6-14, 14-16, 16-18 etc., which is now being adopted for better data management in respect of missing children and a similar module for juvenile justice system is also being evolved for better data management. The new system is being developed by WIPRO technologies in

consultation with the NHRC and NCPCR. States were asked to collect data, accordingly for future. 21. Representative of WIPRO explained the modalities of registration of missing

children by the States concerned, which included not only registration profile but also included other parameters like, age, height, weight, blood group photos, mark of identification, colour of clothes worn, complexion and other physical attributes at the national level. It was also emphasized that the data on children would be used to search and match the records available on CCTNS project thorough out India. This would have links with various state website police networks for better coordination and data management and the data would cover the violations under IPC and this Special & Local Laws (SLL) and organized inter-state trafficking of women and children.

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22.

ADGP, BPRD informed that for issuing an advisory by MHA on the issue of

missing children, 4 workshops have been held by BPR&D in the North, East, West and Southern Regions and the national consultation at Delhi has also been completed. The draft advisory was shared with all the participants for their comments before their issue. 23. The following additional action points emerged: Each State to send monthly report to CBI on missing persons, in the proforma as provided by the CBI along with the photographs of the missing persons and apprehended/suspected traffickers under intimation to MHA/NCRB. (Action : All States/UTs)

CBI may use the data already available / being made available for analysis/ investigation from organized crime perspective and convey their findings at the next meeting, for any further action by MHA/States. (Action : CBI)

List of traffickers in each State to be shared with CBI and the nodal officers of various States, where they are operating as per investigations. (Action : All States/UTs)

CBI to assist MHA to draft advisory (SOP) to be issued to the States for investigating organized crime of Human Trafficking. (Action : CBI)

Change in monthly data reporting format to include number of cases registered under various provisions of IPC and special local laws, such as, ITPA.

(Action: States/UTs)

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States to study the draft advisory on missing children and draft formats for reporting cases of missing children and human trafficking and send comments, urgently (Action : All States/UTs)

Holding of a meeting between Delhi Police, Ministry of Labour, Labour Department, Govt. of NCT of Delhi and Govt. of Orissa to look into the issue of unsafe migration from Sundergarh area involving placement agencies from Delhi. GNCTD will convene the meeting

(Action:

Delhi Police, Ministry of Labour, Labour Department( Govt. of NCT of Delhi and Govt. of Orissa )

Establishing and functioning of AHTUs and submission of Utilization Certificates (Action: All States/UTs) Conducting State/District Level TOT (Action: All States/UTs)

Enrollment in MHA-IGNOU Course (Action: All States/UTs)

Establishing Special Fast Track Courts in States. (Action: All States/UTs)

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