Legislation on Trafficking

An inter-Ministerial Committee under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development has been constituted for preparing a comprehensive legislation on various aspects of Human Trafficking. Details are as under:

Composition

• Secretary or their representative not below the rank of Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, M/o Women & Child Development, M/o Labour & Employment, M/o External Affairs, M/o Overseas Indian Affairs, M/o Health & Family Welfare and D/o Legal Affairs

• Member-Secretary, National Commission for Women

• Member-Secretary, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights

• Principal Secretary/Secretary of Deptt. of WCD/Social Welfare from State/ UT Govt. of West Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and Odisha.

• Representative from National Legal Services Authority (NALSA)

• Mr. Ravi Kant, Shakti Vahini (New Delhi)

• Ms. Sunita Krishnan, Prajwala (Andhra Pradesh)

• Mr. Ajit Singh, Gudia Sansthan (Varanasi-UP)

• Mr. Roop Sen, Sanjog (Kolkata)

• Dr. P.M. Nair, Chair-Professor, TISS, Mumbai

Terms and Reference

• To study the various Acts/Legislations under the purview of different Ministries/Departments relating to various aspects of trafficking.

• To consider the gaps in the existing legislation, from the point of view of prevention, pre-rescue, rescue, post-rescue and rehabilitation aspects.

• To Strengthen victim protection protocol so as to ensure that victims are treated as victims not as offenders.

• To draft a comprehensive legislative framework covering all aspects of trafficking, as may be considered necessary.

• To provide for adequate shelter homes for the rescued victims.

• To prepare a comprehensive policy for law enforcing agencies, including for lady police officers for handling the victims of trafficking.

The Government is also considering to establish a single agency called Organised Crime Investigation Agency. At present, there is no proposal for setting up the Standard Operating Procedures for its implementation.

This was stated by the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary in a written reply to question by Smt. Santosh Ahlawat and Shri A. Arunmozhithevan in the Lok Sabha on 8 dec