Girls of flood Effected areas from Assam are easily prey to traffickers
Eighteen year old Noorin Hussain, though a poor girl hailing from Dhemaji had dreams of a marriage life rich in love and happiness. Little did she know, her whole concept of marriage would be shattered by a 50 year old man from Haryana who planned to marry her to his two sons, luring her to Haryana with the promise of work as she desperately needed money after the floods have devastated her home last year. However, she was saved of that life after she was rescued by social workers.
The floods come and go every year but the affects continue to scar the lives the several women in the State. The rescue to three girls from Assam in Panipat at Haryana yesterday refocuses the issue of women from Assam being trafficked to North India; mostly after the floods in Assam. The devastating floods in the State are one of the prime reasons for ‘forced migration’ of many girls to the States of Punjab and Haryana.
Rounak Ali Hazarika, DIG, CID said, “It is after the natural calamities including floods that such incidents take a spurt. Since the floods cause large scale devastation where they become financially weak, they are lured with promise of a better life outside and end up in various unscrupulous rackets.”
Rishi Kant, social activist of Shakti Bahini, a national anti-trafficking organization said, “Every year there is a flood in Assam and a number of girls and children are found to be missing or leaving for Delhi where they believe they will get work. The Assamese village people are innocent people and they easily fall for such traps.”
The girls, who have been rescued from an abandoned building in Panipat, were allegedly raped, tortured and forced into prostitution. They were aged aged between 17 and 20 years.
He added, “There is a need to make a comprehensive data on how many go missing after the floods so that the immensity of the problem can be comprehended and worked on more. Assam falls among the places with the highest number of cases of trafficking.”
This year, as many as 15 girls have been rescued by the Shakti Bahini.
According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data 2015, Assam has the highest number of human trafficking cases in India at 1494 cases, followed by West Bengal at 1255.
