Mardaani has gone beyond the confines of multiplexes to hit where it hurts most: the stark reality of trafficking that the state struggles to cope with everyday.

Police sources said strategies are being chalked out to stop trafficking by laying traps in key areas as the floods witness sending or even selling children to big cities from the rural areas.

Imanuddin Ahmad, director, social welfare, said the floods in the Kosi region have always been an important factor behind child trafficking. “In Bihar, the main problem is related to child trafficking. Women trafficking for prostitution are not major problems in the state because of social reason. In the state, most of the men folk don’t allow women to go out for work. Here, particularly in the rural areas, they will not allow the girls to leave the village under any circumstances. However, the state has turned out to be a transit point for women trafficking,” Ahmed said on Wednesday.

The Rani Mukerji-starrer portrays the actor as a woman police inspector destroying a trafficking cartel after a teenager, who she loves as her daughter, was kidnapped by the mafia and smuggled out of the town.

Inspector-general (weaker section) Arvind Pandey said: “The government has taken some steps. All the districts have got anti-human trafficking cells, which work round the clock. We have specific plans also to raid the key points of trafficking. However in our state, most of the trafficking cases take place with the consent of the elders. We hope the situation can improve by awareness and education.”

The police headquarters also sent directives to all the superintendents of police to organise shows of the film for the men in uniform.

“In Bihar, the trafficking of children and teenagers is a huge issue that we find it difficult to deal with. The main reason for the same is poverty. In June this year, 180 children of Bihar were rescued from Jaipur in Rajasthan. In January, 49 teenagers from the state were rescued from Bangalore, Rajasthan and Delhi. Many a time, it is the parents who send their children willingly to work and then they get to one city after another after passing to many hands. Trafficking mainly happens after the monsoon and mainly in the Kosi belt due to the floods. The aftermath of floods for the poor is disastrous and many have got no options but to send their children to work not knowing that they are getting trafficked. Among the districts which witnesses the most cases are Gaya, Sitamarhi, Saharsa, Madhepura, Supaul, Sitamarhi and East and West Champaran,” an official of the social welfare department said.

Another official at the department said women are brought to Bihar from places like Nepal and Bangladesh and then moved out to the other cities. “The porous Indo-Nepal border is a boon for those engaged in the business. Girls are made to enter Bihar through the bordering districts like Araria, Supaul, Kishanganj, Madhepura and others. They are made to enter Bihar where they stay in for a while before moving off to the bigger cities. So, when it comes to women trafficking, Bihar is not a destination but a transit. Women are brought to Bihar from Nepal and Bangladesh mainly. There have been instances when women from Pakistan too are made to enter via Bihar,” the official said.

As per the figures provided by the office of the inspector-general (weaker section), the total number of reported cases of human trafficking in Bihar from 2008 till June 2014 rests at 354. At least 1,598 victims, which include children, teenagers and women, have been rescued during this period with 1,254 people being sent behind bars for allegedly being involved in human trafficking.

Noble gesture

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has decided to make the Rani Mukerji starrer, Mardaani, tax-free. After the film, he applauded the performance of Rani and talked about how the movie focused on the evil of human trafficking. The Uttar Pradesh government, too, has announced it would exempt the film from entertainment tax because it deals with the issue of child trafficking