Patna, March 27: The Bihar government seems to be in denial of the scourge of human trafficking.
As many as 656 children went missing from just Patna last year, a minister admitted today, and activists and Opposition leaders cited National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) figures to point out that more than 3,000 girls disappeared from Bihar in the same period. The state government, however, insisted that most such cases - especially of girls - had more to do with running away from home than human trafficking, a claim activists rubbished.
"Most of the children who have disappeared belong to the age group of 15 to 18," energy minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav said in the Assembly while replying to a question from Nand Kishore Yadav of the BJP. "It is an age in which one cannot be forcefully taken away somewhere without (the child) raising a hue and cry. Most of them run away from home on some pretext or other like being scolded or beaten up by parents for not going to school."
Bijendra pointed out that the criminal investigation department (CID) was the nodal agency to deal with trafficking, but could not answer how many traffickers police had arrested in the last three years.
Nand Kishore, in his question, said that in the last one year 572 children had gone missing from Patna. The correct figure was 656, the minister said in his reply, of which 213 children were yet to be traced. The BJP MLA objected to the government treating all cases as running away from home or elopement.
"Recently, there was a case of two girls who went missing," Nand Kishore pointed out. "One of them was killed and the other was sold thrice in UP."
He said the latest NCRB figures showed that over 3,000 girls had gone missing from Bihar last year. The minister, while sticking to his stand that most of the disappearances were actually elopement cases, said there would be a special drive to stop trafficking of children.
Ruchira Gupta, founder of anti-trafficking organisation Apne Aap Women Worldwide, said Bihar could not afford to ignore the clear and present threat of trafficking.
"Though Bihar has made significant strides towards women empowerment - be it education, providing livelihoods and safety, reducing domestic violence and generation of employment, specially government jobs - all these achievements of the last few years will come to naught if trafficking of girls is not stopped, as it has increased significantly from previous years."
According to NCRB data, around 2,700 girls went missing from the state in 2013-14.
"The state has missed utterly in its role of catering to the safety and needs of destitute girls, as they are not just poor but come from the lowest strata of society - Dalits and extremely backward class," Ruchira said. "In most of the cases, police action is missing."
She said a public interest litigation was filed in Patna High Court in 2013 to stop trafficking in the state. The court passed an order in November 2014, directing the state to take effective measures to contain trafficking of women but nothing concrete has been done on ground so far, she added.
Ruchira, who is also a visiting professor at New York University, also dismissed the state government's claim that majority of the missing children had run away or eloped.
"It's a false claim. It's an excuse put forth by the police as they shy away from investigations," she said. "In several cases we have found that the abductors have kept them (girls and children) as bonded labourers."
