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CM sets pupils after traffickers
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Kolkata, 28 June 2007
Statesman News Service
College and university students would be encouraged to get involved in campaigns against human trafficking and early marriage of girls, said chief minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee at the inauguration of the states first anti-human trafficking unit at the headquarters of Criminal Investigation Department at Bhawani Bhaban today. He attributed the spate of human trafficking to poverty and the contiguity of the states borders to those of Bangladesh and Nepal ~ countries which are plagued by the scourge. The state social welfare department was formulating a strategy to deal with human trafficking and child marriage, he said. A team of experts from three universities had submitted a report to the state government about the extent to which human trafficking has grown in the state. Chief minister said around 20 per cent of the states population live below the poverty line.
Crime against women, human trafficking and child marriage stemmed from poverty and illiteracy, he said. The state government has carried out a survey recently which revealed that 4,612 villages in the state are underdeveloped. The chief minister said all senior police officers needed to be sensitised so that they could educate their junior colleagues about human trafficking, dowry and early marriage of girls. Mr PM Nair, representative of United Nation Office on Drug and Crime (
UNODC), said at the function that an action plan needed to be formulated to fight against human trafficking. He said police in Andhra Pradesh, a state which ranked top in terms of human trafficking, had arrested 300 accused in less than three months. They had rescued more than 500 victims of human trafficking, said Mr Nair. Mr Prasad Ranjan Roy, state home secretary, said the second anti-human trafficking unit would be set up at Murshidabad shortly. State chief secretary Mr Amit Kiran Deb said the government would accord priority to rehabilitating victims of human trafficking. The director general of police, Mr AB Vohra, said the state police had failed to stop human trafficking owing to the lack of resources. The anti-human trafficking unit of the CID, comprising three inspectors and six sub-inspectors, will be supervised by an officer of the rank of deputy superintendent of police, said Mr Sanjoy Mukherjee, DIG( Special), CID.
