TIGblogs - Mahesh 's TIGBlog http://mmbips.tigblog.org/ What's on the minds of young leaders from around the globe? en-us Police to play bigger role in AIDS awareness http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/544571 Police to play bigger role in AIDS awareness
Staff Reporter
Audio CD of ‘kala jathas’ on the dreaded disease released

Mee Nestam to be launched in West Godavari district

KHAMMAM: Superintendent of Police Mahesh M. Bhagwat said here on Monday that the police would opt for playing a bigger role in raising the awareness levels in the general public on aids. Releasing an audio CD of the police ‘kala jatha’ teams on the dreaded disease at a programme organized a part of the World Ids Day, he said all the police stations in the district were instructed to organise awareness meetings on the occasion.
It is not end of the road for the positive people, he said adding that such people would be able to live a longer and happy life in a right environment. The spread of AIDS owed much to the sexual transmission. “ If you are loyal to your partner you are safe.” The police personnel, who are expected to be battle ready all the time with total physical fitness in the present circumstances, should not fall prey to the disease. The problem was felt more in cities like Mumbai where in a sizeable segment of people had been working away from their families. The sex workers in the red light areas were often forced reportedly for unprotected sex, but it would be fatal. He wanted the HIV tests conducted before marriage as they would help avoid a greater risk in life. But it should not be forced only upon women. It should be made mandatory even for men. Many advanced medicines were being made available in the market to enhance the life of the positive people. The HIV positive people should not try to conceal their problem. Their families should be kept informed. He said the youth, who could help create more awareness among the tribal communities by communicating in their own language, would be inducted in the ‘kala jathas’.
He announced a cash award of Rs 5,000 for the cultural teams which came out with the CD.

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]]> Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:12:00 EST http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/544571 17.3752778 78.474444417.375277878.4744444 Bangalore: Sex change racket - Financer arrested http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/522691 Bangalore: Sex change racket - Financer arrested
Bangalore November 10, 2008: Bangalore City police have today arrested a financier for his alleged involvement in a major sex change racket in the city.
The police, who had busted the racket yesterday with the arrest of two eunuchs for kidnapping a boy and coercing him into prostitution after his sex was changed, had succeeded in arresting kingpin Rajanna from the city and they were on the look out for a doctor, who operated the boy in Andhra Pradesh, the sources said.
They said the ninth standard student had been identified as Chandrashekhar of T Dasarhalli in the city. He was taken to Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh for the sex change in March, when his parents had filed a missing complaint with the police.The racket involves in kidnapping, castrating and eventually forcing them into begging and prostitution.
The boy revealed that he had gone to Kadapa and underwent a couple of surgeries and got his sex changed before being named as Shilpa. The only son of labour Venkatappa was then forced into the business of prostitution and begging. The money he collected from the day was given to Rajanna, who had financed his surgery in Kadapa. Rajanna had also made the arrangement of Rs 50,000 for the breast transplant in a city hospital.
The boy has been admitted to Victoira hospital for rejuvenating his genitals. The Chief Minister's office has come forward to bear the medical expenses for the operation, they added. According to a report, there were about 25,000 transgenders in the city

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]]> Mon, 10 Nov 2008 10:11:00 EST http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/522691 17.3752778 78.474444417.375277878.4744444 Transsexuals' arrest points at racket http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/521957 Transsexuals' arrest points at racket
8 Nov 2008, 2353 hrs IST, TNN
Bangalore : With the arrest of two transsexuals, the police have stumbled upon a racket where boys are kidnapped and pushed into prostitution after a sex change operation. The arrested are Basavaraj alias Mangala and Baby alias Madhu. Police are on the lookout for five more persons, including a doctor from Andhra Pradesh who allegedly conducted the surgeries, and Rajanna, who finances such operations. DCP (north-east) Basavaraj Malagatthi said the racket has existed for a while and the police are verifying how many more children might have been kidnapped and pushed into sex work. Raj (name changed), a class IX student from Dasarahalli, was missing since March 23 and his father had lodged a complaint. The police found a sex worker named Shilpa, and on interrogation realized she was in fact the missing boy. During the investigation, police picked up Mangala and Baby, who had kidnapped Raj. He was allegedly drugged and taken to Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, where he was operated upon at Naganna Hospital and kept for a month. `Shilpa' was then brought to Bangalore and pushed into sex work by Rajanna, who runs a brothel. He is also said to have financed the operation and transportation. During the same period, Mangala got a breast transplantation at the hospital at a cost of Rs 60,000, police said. "This is the work of an organized racket. Besides Mangala and Baby, three other transsexuals -- Nandini, Sowmya and Apurva -- are involved. We are sure many other children have been kidnapped, and are trying to find out the details,'' Malgatthi said.

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]]> Sun, 09 Nov 2008 05:11:00 EST http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/521957 17.3752778 78.474444417.375277878.4744444 Nine girls en route to Indian brothels rescued http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/521959 Nine girls en route to Indian brothels rescued
Anti girl trafficking volunteers rescued nine Nepalese girls last week from a frontier Indian town of Raxaul which is adjacent to Birgunj in Parsa district and handed them over to Maiti Nepal, reports said.
The girls, most of whom were minors, were rescued while being taken to Indian capital New Delhi by volunteers with the Cross-Border Anti-Trafficking Network, an NGO based in Raxaul, and then handed them over to the Birgunj branch of Maiti Nepal.
The report quoted Maiti Nepal Birgunj branch head Sangeeta Puri as saying that Phoolmaya Magar, 50, was taking the girls, who were from Mahottari and Sarlahi districts, to India to sell them into brothels where they would be forced to work as commercial sex workers.
Puri said that the girls have already been handed over to their parents. But it was not known through the report whether Magar was arrested.
Hundreds of Nepalese girls from the impoverished hilly districts of the country are trafficked to Indian metropolis mostly through Raxaul every year despite concerted efforts by Maiti Nepal and other anti-trafficking networks to put a lid on this appalling human tragedy.
After ending up in brothels in big Indian cities like New Delhi and Mumbai, the girls have to often go through intense suffering in the form of physical and mental tortures including depravation in uninhabitable places where they long to see the sun for years. It is estimated that more than 100,000 Nepalese girls and women currently work in brothels across India. nepalnews.com ag Nov 09 08

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]]> Sun, 09 Nov 2008 05:11:00 EST http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/521959 17.3752778 78.474444417.375277878.4744444 Microsoft India announces two new grants to CAP Foundation http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/518051 Microsoft India announces two new grants to CAP Foundation
Microsoft to fund Rs. 1.61 Crore for IT skills projects in Anti-trafficking and Overseas Workers training
Gurgaon, Haryana, IND, 2008-11-05 10:38:21 (IndiaPRwire.com)
Under the Unlimited Potential vision, Microsoft Corporation India Private Limited today announced an additional funding of Rs. 1.61 crore to CAP Foundation through its Community Technology Skills Program (CTSP) to promote IT access and training to communities vulnerable to unsafe migration and human trafficking. This announcement was made at a valedictory function for graduates of CAP Foundation training courses, attended by senior representatives from Microsoft, CAP Foundation and USAID/India. Addressing one of the root causes of unemployment in India, CAP Foundation provides employability skills training and economic empowerment to individuals and youth in at-risk communities.
Speaking at the event, Nancy Anderson, Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Microsoft Corporation, USA said, “Access to information and communication technology holds tremendous potential to be the change agent for creating a more equitable order of economic opportunities and sustainable development. Every life that Project Jyoti - our Community Technology Skills Program in India - has helped transform through IT skills training is a testament to this. I am glad to deepen the engagement with our partner CAP Foundation for continuing to reach out to underserved individuals and changing lives”.
In his comments, Mr. George Deikun, Mission Director, USAID/India, said, “USAID is privileged to be a part of this very exciting initiative which links learning with livelihood. It is revolutionizing the way vulnerable youth, who have little prospect of employment, are mainstreamed into society”.
Expressing her views, Ms. Nalini Gangadharan, Chairperson, CAP Foundation, said, “Under the Microsoft and USAID-supported program, disadvantaged youth acquire basic IT skills, technical domain skills in fast expanding sectors, as well as life skills. It is a concrete step in positively changing the course of an individual’s life”.
Microsoft has so far partnered with 13 NGOs for on-the-ground CTSP program implementation in India, supported close to 900 Community Technology Learning Centres (CTLCs) across the country, and trained more than 120,000 people in approximately 20 states and Union Territories in IT skills based on the Unlimited Potential curriculum.
Under the grants announced by Microsoft, for phase II of an ongoing anti-human trafficking project, CAP Foundation will get Rs 1.18 crores in cash, software and curriculum across 30 training centres focusing on high migration and trafficking pockets in 15 states and union territories. A total of 44,800 at-risk youth from economically disadvantaged communities especially vulnerable to trafficking will receive IT and other skills training over three years. Most significantly, 80% of them are expected to be placed in jobs. This continues the momentum of phase I (2006-2008) of the project which was supported by USAID and QUEST Alliance for digitization of life skills content for improved delivery of the training.
A second project for IT skills training of Overseas Workers to assist their safe migration will get Rs 42.53 lakhs in cash, software and curriculum donations from Microsoft for 3 training centres in Hyderabad, Chennai and Ranchi. Around 6000 workers who have made the decision to migrate overseas for employment and are registered with Overseas Migration Corporations or similar agencies in India will receive pre-migration related employability skills training, certification and placement assistance. In addition to enabling professional advancement and safer, more informed migration, technology training will also help overseas workers transition more easily to life overseas and remain in closer contact with their families back home via use of ICT.
- End -
About CAP Foundation (www.capfoundation.in)
The mission of CAP Foundation is to link learning and livelihood for youth at risk by providing a holistic education and livelihood promotion module which combines formal education with employability skill development training, life skills, job placement and career exploration opportunities, using experience to develop confident individuals capable of self directed growth.
About Microsoft India (www.microsoft.com/india)
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software - any time, any place and on any device. Microsoft Corporation India Private Ltd is a subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation USA. It has had a presence in India since 1990 and currently has offices in 16 cities - Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Jamshedpur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, and Pune.
About USAID India (http://www.usaid.gov/in)
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is the principal U.S. agency that provides economic, development and humanitarian assistance to countries around the world. Despite India’s booming economic growth, large segments of the youth population lack the education and skills necessary for success in the modern economy. To address this gap, USAID/India supports the Workforce Development Initiative (Ek Mouka or one opportunity) implemented by the CAP Foundation, which mobilizes poor and marginally educated youth and provides them with training in the skills demanded by industry
==================================

Congratulations to Aasara project partner ' CAP foundation'

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]]> Wed, 05 Nov 2008 02:11:00 EST http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/518051 17.3752778 78.474444417.375277878.4744444 Trafficking Victims recount their ordeal http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/508831 Trafficking Victims recount their ordeal
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, October 13 2008:
Recounting their ordeal, the five Zeliangrong girls who were taken to Singapore on promises of jobs but landed up in a night club at Malaysia have said that agent Rickey Ho who took them to Malaysia and sold them off in a night club is a 'dangerous man' and any girl or boy from Manipur who are planning to go to Singapore under his guidance or other agents who have connection with him should stop at once.
Talking to mediapersons at the office of Rongmei Naga Baptist Association located at Langol Tarung here today, the five girls said the agent Rickey Ho is a Chinese who runs an NGO from Singapore and always tries to lure Manipuri girls to come to Singapore and Malaysia where he exploits them.The five girls informed that Rickey even watches Manipuri films and keep the photographs of Manipuri actors and actresses stored in his computer.
They said that at present there may be more than 100 girls from Manipur in Singapore and Malaysia who have been recruited by Rickey Ho.
In Singapore, the girls were made to work as domestic helps but not in Malaysia, the five girls said, adding that only when they told the truth they are not prostitutes that they managed to escape from the last hotel in Malaysia where they were kept locked up.
Before the escape, one man had even come to solicit them inside the hotel room.But when they told the truth, he left quietly without saying any word, the five victims said.While staying at Malaysia, two agents working under Rickey Ho namely Mike and Sheela had tortured them so much so that they had even thought of committing suicide.
Expressing gratitude to SDPO Tamenglong and other NGOs who have helped them in coming back to Imphal safely, the five girls said that they would remain indebted and never be able to forget the help throughout their life.Meanwhile, it is said that the whereabouts of three more young girls, two from Thangal Village under Nungba Sub-division of Tamenglong District and the other from Nengsai village, have not been known after they have been taken to Singapore.
One Lungchui Golmei , a resident of Thangal village, who was present during the press conference identified the three missing girls as Shanti Maringmai (20) d/o Ading, Merry Maringmai (18) d/o Nungreiba and Tabitha d/o Kumar Meitei.Three of them have been reportedly gone together along with Ningtingliu (17), younger sister of Merry Maringmai sometime during the month of February-March this year.However, Ningtingliu has returned back.Golmei informed that for the first two-three months, the family members used to have contact with the three girls but not any more.It has been known that one person from Loktak Project area had taken the three girls.But the name of the person has not yet been able to identity, Golmei said, while informing he would convince the worried family members to take up the matter with Rongmei Women Union, Naga People Movement for Human Rights and Zeliangrong Students' Union and seek help in tracing the missing girls.
The president of Rongmei Naga Women's Organisation (Assam, Manipur and Nagaland) Panti Golmei has called upon all the social organisations for co-operation in rescuing the rest of the girls who are currently living in Malaysia as well as in stopping trafficking of young girls from Manipur in future

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]]> Thu, 16 Oct 2008 08:10:00 EDT http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/508831 17.3752778 78.474444417.375277878.4744444 Manipuri victims of human trafficking reach home finally http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/501609 Manipuri victims of human trafficking reach home finally

Source : The Imphal Free PressIMPHAL, Oct 11: All the five girl victims of human trafficking from Manipur and Assam to Malaysia arrived at Kolkata yesterday from Malaysia via Chennai. The girls from Manipur reached Imphal this afternoon.After lobbying with the officials of the Indian and Malaysian governments for a whole month they were brought back from Malaysia yesterday, said North East Helpline in a statement today.
The girls were, however, not accompanied by any women officials of the Manipur government as well as India government and this was strongly condemned by the NE Support Centre and Helpline which also expressed dissatisfaction over the neglect by the government.A spokesperson of the helpline, Madhu Chandra confirmed over phone the arrival of the girls and said that the five victims of human trafficking arrived at Chennai and Kolkata from Kuala Lumpur early yesterday without any lady officials accompanying them.
Four of them hailing from Manipur further arrived at Imphal airport this afternoon and were taken away by their respective families from the Imphal airport, reports said.Mention may be made the NE Support Centre and Helpline took a major role in facilitating the return of the girls to India from Malaysia after they escaped from a night club where they were allegedly sold by their traffickers.At their arrival, they were taken to Kolkata Manipur Bhavan under the care of the resident commissioner for a night’s stay without any women companion, it added.
Dr. Alana Golmei, a social worker from New Delhi along with two women from the same community and a brother of one of the girls went to receive them at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Airport yesterday but they were not allowed to meet the girls at the airport.Further they were refused entry into the Manipur Bhavan to meet them, the spokesperson said.NE Helpline also alleged that the residential commissioner of Manipur Bhavan, Kolkata, Dr. MK Singh intentionally refused to respond when they attempted to contact them.Madhu Chandra also blamed the Indian foreign ministry for not arranging women officials to accompany the victims from Chennai to Kolkata. “Arranging a male official to accompany the girls added more trauma and suffering,” Chandra said.Abel and Joe Networking Pvt. Ltd. (www.abelnjoe.com), a company based at Singapore through its newly opened branches in north east India have reportedly recruited nearly 150 girls from the region on the promise of jobs in Singapore.
Five of the victims who managed to escaped and arrived at Imphal today were also recruited by Abel and Joe Networking Pvt. Ltd. and kept for three months in Singapore without any work and later they were taken by the traffickers to Malaysia.The victims sought shelter at the Indian High Commission, Kuala Lumpur after they realized they were being trafficked. Later, they took shelter under the care of Pastor David and his wife in Kuala Lumpur.Earlier on September 29, a delegation led by public affairs national secretary of the All India Christian Council, Dr. Sam Paul along with Madhu Chandra, and Lansinglu Rongmei, president of North East Support Centre and Helpline met the National Commission for Women, High Commission of Malaysia and Union minister for tribal affairs PR Kyndia and appealed to the concerned Indian and Malaysian authorities for repatriation of the helpless girls.NE Support Centre and Helpline have also, in the meantime, asked the ministry of external affairs, north eastern state governments and South Asian countries to watch over the activities of Singapore based Abel and Joe Networking Pvt. Ltd. and ban their branches operating in the north eastern region.

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]]> Sun, 12 Oct 2008 11:10:00 EDT http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/501609 17.3752778 78.474444417.375277878.4744444 Notorious pimp arrested in city http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/497803 Notorious pimp arrested in city
CHENNAI: The long arm of the law finally caught up with Poonga Venkadesan, a top pimp in the city. A special CB-CID team, led by ADGP Archana Ramasundaram, arrested him. Venkadesan had been evading the police dragnet for the past five years. Over 15 anti-trafficking cases are pending against him.Ever since a major sex racket was busted in the city in August, the police had been on the look out for Venkadesan. He came to Chennai as a youth from Madurai to work as room boy in a lodge.Subsequently, he turned into a major supplier of call girls for affluent clients through the contacts he established over the years.He was arrested on Sunday night at GST Road. The police then raided a house in Madambakkam, from where he had been operating of late. They seized two cars, a motorbike, a wristwatch worth Rs 17,000, a three-sovereign gold chain and two mobile phones from the house. The police had been following Venkadesan’s movements - he used to shuttle between Andhra Pradesh, from where be procured girls for his racket, and Chennai - for a month before the arrest.The search for him was intensified after one of his associates, Joe alias Joseph, of Munnar, was arrested at a house that was being used as a brothel by Venkadesan in Sithalapakkam in August.The racket was then busted with the help of a police decoy. Posing as a client, a plainclothesman called up Mani from Andhra Pradesh, who used to drive girls brought to the city by Venkadesan to various delivery points, and asked if he could supply two women. The driver brought two woman to Old Mahabilipuram and landed in the police net. The car he drove was seized and the two women rescued by the police,who subsequently found another woman kept in a room in VGP beach resorts on ECR. Mani’s arrest had then led the police to the Sithalapakkam house

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]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 01:10:00 EDT http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/497803 17.3752778 78.474444417.375277878.4744444 Local girl escapes traffickers in Malaysia, local recruiting agent arrested http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/487833 Local girl escapes traffickers in Malaysia, local recruiting agent arrested

Source : The Imphal Free PressIMPHAL, Sept 24: The escape of a teenage girl from Manipur from the custody of an organisation which poses itself as job recruiting agency based in Singapore has exposed what might be a organised human trafficking racket with international dimension spreading its tentacles in the state.It is also now evident, the recruiting agency Abel amp; Leo Private Ltd, has a strong presence in the Northeast, including in Manipur.The account of the escaped girl, revealed that in all four teenage girls including her (all names and particulars of the girls are now known), belonging to remote villages in the Tamenglong district, had been lured by a local recruiting agent, allegedly one Philip Gangmei, and taken abroad, first to Singapore, and then to Malaysia.Philip Gangmei, against whom a first information report, FIR, had been lodged on September 22 with the Tamenglong police by the districts child welfare committee, has since been arrested in Imphal, where he had come to appear for the current MPSC examination for MCS and MPS posts.According to the Nandini Thokchom, director, child and gender unit of the Forum for Indigenous Perspectives and Action (FIPA), efforts are now being made by NGOS working against trafficking for the safe repatriation of the girls.It may be recalled another five village girls who were taken by the same organisation were intercepted on the way to Singapore at Dimapur in August 2008.The public fear now is, these developments may only be the proverbial tip of the iceberg.In the current case, a group of four young girls were taken to Singapore by a group of employers promising them employment and a reasonable salary in January 2008. One girl who managed to escape, said she was kept as a domestic helper at an Oriya family’s (Indian) house in Singapore for some time.However, all four were taken to Kuala Lampur, Malaysia by Abel amp; Leo Private Ltd. According to the escaped girl, who is now taking refuge in the Indian High Commission in Kuala Lampur, the said agency came over and convinced the Oriya family that she needs to be taken elsewhere on medical grounds. However, the girl said she was given a different explanation. They told her that she would be given a more decent job and that such jobs are available only in Malaysia. She protested that she did not want to leave Singapore but they insisted and forcibly took her there along with her other three friends.At around 9.30 pm (Indian Standard Time) on 7 August, 2008 (Sunday) the girl called up Achungmei Kamei, a social worker in Manipur, from a public telephone boot and informed her how she has been taken to Kuala Lumpur. Achungmei was informed that she was severely tortured. She was beaten on her legs which were swollen badly. She also informed that she wants to come back home safely.She informed that on arrival in Kuala Lumpur they were kept in a shady hall and their passports were also taken away. She got suspicious of the whole affairs and protested. Later, because she was defiant, she was isolated from the rest of the group and kept in a separate room. She further narrated that a few men came to her room and misbehaved with her and tried to take advantage sexually. She fought back but she was over powered and beaten up brutally. They left her alone after sometime. It was the same day in the evening when no one was around that she managed to escape. She took a taxi and sought help at the Indian High Commission. The staff at the High Commission contacted Pastor Jeyabal David who is now providing her all the necessary support.She has contacted her other abducted friends over the phone and they informed that they were still being kept at the same place. The so-called agency has also contacted her over her mobile phone and is persuading her to come back on the ground that she would be given a good job.A late report by Pastor David said two more girls escaped. All their passports have been taken away by the human traffickers. These young girls are in danger and needs immediate physical and legal protection as they are in a foreign land without legal documents.According to a plea to the IG intelligence Manipur, by Kinderson Pamei, chairperson, child welfare committee, Tamenglong, at least 150 indigenous female children and young women, majority of them of the Zeliangrong Naga community were recruited with promises of jobs to Singapore by a Singapore based NGOs Abel and Leo Private Ltd. under the leadership of Ricky Ho.The letter said Ho’s men are spread over India, Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines. In India, his men are scattered around penetrating to village level at Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Assam and West Bengal in particular, the letter said

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]]> Fri, 26 Sep 2008 08:09:00 EDT http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/487833 17.3752778 78.474444417.375277878.4744444 Concern over child trafficking http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/464149 THE HINDU

NEW DELHI: The Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) has expressed concern over incidents of child trafficking in the name of adoption as highlighted by media reports.
The reports said a Chennai-based adoption agency fabricated records of children and placed them for adoption in 2000.
In a statement issued here on Monday, CARA chairman J.K. Mittal said action was taken against the agency on receipt of a complaint and it was de-licensed in 2002. A criminal case was also filed against the agency and the matter was pending in court.
No such incident was reported in recent times against any Indian adoption agency by any individual or agency from any part of the world, the statement said.
Strict monitoring
According to Mr. Mittal, CARA monitored the activities of all adoption agencies based in India and children were placed for adoption only after a thorough investigation of their records.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Queensland family ‘devastated’ by Indian child trafficking claims
By Indo-Asian News Service on Monday, August 25, 2008

A Queensland family has been “absolutely devastated” by revelations that their adopted child could have been stolen from her biological parents in India and that they face the risk of the adoption being revoked.
“This is a terrible predicament for a family that loves their adopted child and for the Indian family that has lost a child and as a mother my heart goes out to them,” Queensland Child Safety Minister Margaret Keech said in a statement as her department offers support to the family concerned.
A TIME magazine report said nine-year-old Zabeen, now reportedly living in Queensland with her adoptive parents, was kidnapped in Chennai when she was two years old.
Australia’s adoption processes are rigorous and it only deals with countries that are signatories to The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Inter-Country Adoption.
“Under the Hague Convention, birth parents may bring an action in an Australian Court to have the adoption revoked. However, any decision would be a matter for the courts, which would apply the principle of protecting the best interests of the child,” a spokesman for Attorney General Robert McClelland told IANS Monday.
Figures from the Attorney-General’s Department show 327 or 10 percent of overseas adoptions between 1997-98 and 2006-07 were from India.
“Under Australian law, these children are Australian citizens and the children of the adoptive parents,” the spokesman told IANS.
Few Indian children are adopted by Australian families because the Indian law requires that 50 percent of children requiring adoptive families be placed with Indian couples within India. The next priority is placing children with Indian nationals living abroad. Only a small percentage of children are adopted by non-Indian couples and tend to be older children or children with special needs.
When Australian couples have been approved to adopt from India, the Adoption Services Queensland (ASQ) makes contact with different Indian agencies to determine whether or not they will accept the couple’s file.
“I am advised that adoptions from India have to be authorised by a court. The adoption of the Queensland child who was allegedly stolen was authorised by the Madras High Court in March 2000. ASQ’s role was to approve families as suitable adoptive families and to send the file to overseas countries for processing,” Keech said.
“I am advised that ASQ dealt with the official Indian government adoption agency - The Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) and Malaysian Social Services (MSS), a CARA-endorsed agency. All adoption placement agencies in India had to be registered with CARA,” Keech added.
When the child theft allegations first came to light, it is said ASQ had conducted an audit of Indian children who were adopted into Queensland between 1995 and 2007. Only two of the 23 adoptions during that period were through MSS, with one of those two adoptions in 1995 - well before the period (1998-99) during which children were allegedly kidnapped in India.
Australia has offered to assist with any investigations into alleged claims that “pretty” children kidnapped from Indian slums have been adopted by Australian families.
Joining in the debate Monday, federal opposition leader Brendan Nelson has said Australia had a moral responsibility to return any children who may have been stolen.
“Let us hope the inquiry, in fact, does not find that children have been effectively kidnapped. And the right thing, we would expect in most cases, will be to look at returning them to their rightful families,” Nelson said.
Meanwhile, the state government of Tasmania is conducting its own audit of overseas adoptions.
According to a report in TIME Magazine, At least 120 children were kidnapped from slums in southern India and were sold to a Chennai-based adoption agency MSS for as little as $280, before being sent overseas. Nearly a dozen of these children have ended up being adopted in Australia

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]]> Tue, 26 Aug 2008 06:08:00 EDT http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/464149 17.3752778 78.474444417.375277878.4744444 Predators on the prowl http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/463385 Tuesday August 26 2008
Lakshmy Venkiteswaran
It is a crime that happens all the time, almost everywhere, but it rarely seems to register on anyone’s radar. Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) is much more common than people believe. Last year, in a study of over 17,000 children from 13 states, the Ministry of Women and Child Development found that over 50 per cent of them reported facing one or more forms of sexual abuse.
The abuse of a child involves a manipulative process that traps the victim in a secret relationship designed only to provide sexual gratification to the predator. Despite greater awareness today, the common perception still seems to be, ‘it doesn’t happen in my home’, or ‘it just happened once’.
The trauma suffered by 35-year old Rakesh in his school days shows how abusers never stop with one child. “My dad was diabetic so he couldn’t play with me.” His father had heard of a coach who trained boys for free in volleyball. “The training started when I was in class six. From the first day, my coach became my hero.”
“After training, he would always make me sit on his lap. Now I know that he would get an erection whenever I sat on his lap. But at that time, I didn’t understand what it was. To me, I was just happy that my coach thought I was special,” Rakesh recalls. The coach was a regular visitor to the family. When Rakesh’s father had to be hospitalised, he stayed in the coach’s house until his father returned home. Rakesh recalls that the coach made him scrub his back in the bath. Worse things happened, he says.

“I was too terrified to go back there and refused to attend training.” His older brother Ram, however, continued training until he reached high school. It wasn’t until Ram was in college that Rakesh could talk about it. And what they discovered was shocking. “Because I had stopped training, coach used Ram the same way,” he says with tears in his eyes.
Rakesh learnt that some of his teammates in school too suffered the same fate. “Nobody blames me for not telling. But I can’t help feeling that if I had told someone, maybe somebody could have stopped this. I feel ashamed that I let it happen. What’s worse is that he sodomised my brother and other kids repeatedly for many years.” The last he heard, the coach had moved to another country. Vidya Reddy of the Tulir-Centre for the Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse, Chennai says she has never heard of a one-time offender. “Abuse happens repeatedly. More often than not, the abuser is from the family or a friend of the family. Until we stop protecting the abuser, he/she will never stop.”
“If an incident of sexual abuse in a school, for instance, is reported, the management may fire the abuser,” Vidya adds. “But what’s stopping him from getting a job in another school in the same city or another city? Many schools don’t do background checks or crosscheck credentials.” For every case that is reported, many others go unreported. “We get almost a dozen calls every day, but in the end the victims are too scared to file a report,” says a volunteer at a help centre. Another problem in the effort to check this phenomenon is getting a verdict. “When the report is filed, the abused is a child. By the time the case comes to court, he/she is an adult,” reasons Pooja Taparia of Arpan. “Trials take a long time and they’re well into their adulthood, also shouldering societal stigma.” Vidya cites an incident in Chennai. “The lady is the principal of a well-known school in which abuse was reported. She told me her son was getting marriage proposals and if the intended bride had been sexually abused, she would not accept the proposal. To say I was stunned is an understatement.” Often, children conceal the fact of abuse to protect a loved one. “There was a girl who was abused by her best friend’s father. Whenever she visited her friend’s house, the father would fondle her,” says Pushpa Venkatraman, counsellor and trainer at Arpan. “When she informed her friend, the girl implored her to not complain.” The reason her friend gave was that her parents were always fighting and something like this would only make it worse. “The father abused the daughter too, hence the fights between the parents. Can you imagine this child’s condition?” Sometimes the abuse takes place with adults in the same room. Vidya highlighted the case of a swimming coach who fondled children while teaching them, in plain sight of parents and guardians all around the pool. “Many parents stopped sending their children to this coach. But just because you stop sending your child to this particular person, it doesn’t mean he’ll stop what he’s doing. Adult offenders never stop with one kid.” School authorities play a significant role in educating children and parents on sexual abuse. “The parent-teacher associations should evolve a specific sex education programme,” says Pinki Virani, author of Bitter Chocolate. Parents need to educate kids by answering questions about body parts. “We use every word other than the simple biological ones for penis, vagina, breasts and anus. If you don’t use the right words you cannot teach your child the difference between a ‘good touch’ and a ‘bad touch’.” For the cases that are reported, identification and prosecution of molesters presents a serious dilemma to lawyers and activists. The recent acquittal of the two Britons accused of paedophilia by the Bombay High Court in the Anchorage Shelters case shows that a new law needs to be formulated to handle CSA effectively. Maharukh Adenwalla, the lawyer who represented the boys in this case, says the yardstick to weigh an adult’s statement in a court of law should not be applied to a child’s statement. “How can you expect children to be as coherent as an adult? Going through the trial is traumatic enough.” A case in point is Sakshi v. Union of India (2004). The child was gangraped when she was 10 and the case came to trial when she was 13. “The cross-examination lasted three days. She had to repeat the incident in the courtroom in the presence of the accused without a counsellor. In CSA cases, video conferencing should be encouraged with a counsellor present.” CSA cases are often tried under the rape law (Section 376) that says the perpetrator has to be a male and the victim female. The age of consent is 16. “The major weakness of this law is that only penile penetration is considered a grave sexual offence,” says Geetha Ramaseshan, activist-advocate, Madras High Court. “The crime is considered lesser when it is oral, or through penetration with an object. If the abused is a boy, there is no law under which a case can be filed.” In the absence of a clear law, and with convictions so difficult to get, it is no wonder that the abusers feel secure enough to continue their spree. lakshmy@epmltd.com "why doesn’t my family believe me?" “My music teacher would slap the insides of my thigh when I hit a wrong note,” recalls Latha, a working woman in her thirties. “He used to eat paan and slap my thigh. He would then rub his stained fingers on my panties. He would not move his hand for a while. And every time I sang a wrong pitch, he would pinch my vagina.” The reason for such a punishment was that she was his best student and he was doing this for her own good. Where was her mother? “My mum is a homemaker. She didn’t have anyone to help her. The only time she could buy vegetables or run errands was during my music class.” One day, when Latha cried out in pain while she urinated, her mother asked if she had hurt herself while playing. “I told her ‘master pinched me’. The next thing I remember was a stinging sensation on my cheek. She slapped me and warned me that if I ever lied again about him, she would complain to my maths teacher.” The abuse went on until Latha became a teenager and refused to train under him. “He used to come home every year for Diwali and Onam till I was in college. I told my family about everything but even now nobody believes me.” He stopped visiting for a while when her boyfriend, after listening to her ordeal, threatened him with ‘serious bodily harm’. “When physical intimacy with my boyfriend became a problem, I told him everything. He made me realise, over a period of time, that it was not my fault and that I had nothing to be ashamed of. But somehow I can’t help feeling that my family betrayed me. I don’t understand why they continue to welcome this sick man to our home.” Fact file The Ministry for Women and Child Development conducted a study on CSA in April 2007 with a sample size of 17, 220 children from 13 states. Among the results were the following: More than 53 per cent of children reported facing one or more forms of sexual abuse The majority (52.94 per cent) of victims were boys 50 per cent of the sexual offenders were known to the victim or were in positions of trust (either family member, close relative, friend or neighbour). Onset of abuse was as early as five years in some cases Boys were equally at risk as girls 73 per cent of the victims were in the 11-18 age group Delhi reported the highest abuse among boys — 65.64 per cent A study by Tulir (2006) among 2,211 school children in Chennai, revealed: CSA prevalence rate of 42 per cent 15 per cent of both boys and girls had been severely abused. 48 per cent of the abused were boys and the prevalence rate among girls was 39 per cent

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]]> Tue, 26 Aug 2008 02:08:00 EDT http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/463385 17.3752778 78.474444417.375277878.4744444 The scourge of human trafficking in India http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/460809 The scourge of human trafficking in India

Measures to control human trafficking have met with little success for a variety of reasons. The law could address not all of these; society has to contribute its mite to address the problem. Fortunately things are looking up!.
CJ: Sandhya Nigam , 17 Mar 2008
WHEN MONA was 13 years, her mother died and her father remarried. The stepmother was uncomfortable with Mona and wanted to send her away for some job, where she would be able to look after herself. Along came a ”contractor” who arranged jobs for youngsters as domestic help, etc. He paid a certain sum of money to the stepmother and took Mona to a town far away. He got her a job in a massage parlour as a ‘receptionist’. Even before Mona got to know the work profile, she realized that she had been trapped into sexual exploitation. She had become a sexual slave to the ‘customers’ who frequented the place for full-body massage.

Mona is no exception. She is one of the millions of women and children being trafficked and exploited. Mona’s case presents a typical trafficking scenario. Human trafficking (HT) is one of the gravest violations of human dignity and human rights. Trafficking can be classified under three heads: (a) for commercial sexual exploitation or CSE, (b) for exploitative labour or EL and (c) for other forms of exploitation, like organ sale, camel jockeying, etc.

CSE could take place in a brothel or anywhere else like massage parlours and bars. The cause of trafficking is two-dimensional. One is the demand factor and the other is the vulnerability of the person being victimised. More the demand, more the crime. The vulnerability of the trafficked victim is another dimension. Vulnerability, as often quoted, is not exactly attributable to poverty. It is a culmination of several factors, including awareness of rights, lack of access to rights, illiteracy, disparities of income , the scope for exploitation of the victim, poor law enforcement, lack of public awareness and the ” culture of silence” to violation of rights of others.
Article 23 of the Constitution of India prohibits trafficking in any form. We have special legislations like the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act (ITPA), 1956, the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2000. The law enforcement scenario, seen from the traditional viewpoint, presents a dismal picture.
Research conducted by the National Human Rights Commission during 2002-2004 shows that the major issues in law enforcement are as follows:
1. Lack of priority-The law enforcement agencies and justice delivery agencies, for various reasons, accord lowest or nil priority to HT issues.
2. Insensitivity-The lack of sensitivity to human trafficking is a major challenge. It is more of an attitudinal issue.
3. Victimisation of the victim-More often, the trafficked women have been arrested and penalized for ‘soliciting’.
4 Improper Investigation-trafficking involves a long trail, starting from the source point, covering several transit points before terminating at the destination. But the investigation is more or less confined to the place where the victim is rescued. Victims remain more often unheard and unrepresented.
5. Organised crime perspective is lacking in investigation- HT involves several offenders like recruiters, transporters, traffickers, harbourers, exploiters and conspirators. But often, investigation is limited to those present at the scene of rescue. Human trafficking being an organized crime requires sharing of intelligence and an in-depth investigation into all linkages but this is rarely done.
6. Lack of co-ordination-The response to human trafficking requires co-ordination among the various government departments, like police, public welfare, health, women and child. The gap in co-ordination is a major challenge to the response system.
7. Lack of coordination with NGO’s- The ITPA and labour laws do assign specific role to NGO’s; however there is no institutionalized system of co-ordination between the law enforcement agencies and NGO’s.
8. Lack of Appreciation-Several instances of good work done by the police officers, researchers, NGO’s, etc, in controlling human trafficking can be cited. However such actions are not acknowledged and disseminated; often good news is no news and bad news is good news.
9. Lack of Emphasis on Rehabilitation- This is a major challenge which leads to not only victimization of victims but also re-trafficking of the rescued person. Despite the fact that several corporates set aside large funds for social responsibility, lack of synergy with the law enforcement agencies and NGO’s has been an impediment in effective dovetailing of such sources for rehabilitating the victim.

However, the emerging scenario is certainly positive. There are several initiatives launched across the country to address human trafficking in a comprehensive and effective manner. Some of these initiatives may be initiated by individuals who are committed to the cause and due to their initiatives, such steps are getting institutionalised. In fact, during the last six years of this century, there has been a growing momentum against human trafficking. The reasons may be many. First of all, credit should go to NGOs who have brought the HT issue into the national agenda. Secondly, several law enforcement officers and human rights activists have provided leadership and proper orientation in achieving better results in anti-human trafficking (AHT).

Increased awareness-There is a national momentum, involving various stake holders, especially the media, the corporates, government agencies including the law-enforcement wing and human rights agencies. One of the best examples is the Global Initiative in Fighting Human Trafficking (GIFT), initiated by UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime).

Holistic approach: Several agencies working together and attending to the issues of ‘PPP’(Prevention, Protection and Prosecution), in a concerted manner has been one of the features of the new response system. While police undertake rescue operations along with NGOs, other government departments immediately move in, to provide interim relief to the victims. The NGOs take over post-rescue care and attention in association with the government agencies concerned.

Synergy in action: The UNODC, New Delhi, in partnership with the government of India and State government agencies as well as civil society has set up ‘anti-human trafficking units’ (AHTU) in several states. AHTU is a special task force set up under the State police, by involving chosen police officers, NGOs and others who are specially trained for the purpose. UNODC has provided training and empowerment to these officers with focus on knowledge, skills and attitudinal orientation. These units are making a tremendous impact on the law enforcement scenario - for example, in a span of six months, the AHTUs in Andhra Pradesh have rescued more than 700 victims of which more than 100 are children under 18. The rescued victims are being promptly taken care of by the government as well as NGOs, most of them having been rehabilitated with the help of corporate and business houses. Excellent rehabilitation has been achieved through synergetic action.

AHT is an area, which beckons all those who are concerned with human rights. There is much to do and something to be done by everybody. It is everybody’s business. The question is whether one is a part of the problem or part of the solution. There is no third option. Therefore, all who are committed to human rights must join hands in this global initiative to fight human trafficking. We can together ensure that, Mona is safe in our home and community and that Mona lives with dignity, like all of us and it will be so with all the Mona’s.

Achievements of anti-human trafficking measures in five states (Jan-Sep 2007):

Trafficking crimes registered: 466
Rescue Operations: 96
NGOs associated in operations: 90 per cent
Victims rescued: 716
Minors rescued: 108
Traffickers arrested: 1020.
Customers’arrested: 332
Traffickers convicted: 2

Centres of exploitation closed: Andhra Pradesh and Goa.
Crimes prevented: numerous, though the numbers are not available.
Post-rescue care and attention provided to rescued persons: Cent percent

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]]> Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:08:00 EDT http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/460809 17.3752778 78.474444417.375277878.4744444 Rally held against trafficking of women http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/460025
Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad
Rally held against trafficking of women
Special Correspondent
Groups of men take up unique initiative


For a cause: Cyclists displaying slogans during a rally against trafficking of women on Wednesday.
HYDERABAD: In a unique initiative to help find solution to the crime of trafficking of women and children, groups of men took out a cycle rally here on Wednesday.
The 16 km rally with the message ‘Trafficking can be prevented if men stopped buying sex’ was flagged off by Minister for Women and Child Welfare N. Rajyalakshmi at the Lalitha Kalathoranam.
The rally was organised by Prajwala, an NGO working against trafficking, and the Department of Women and Child Welfare.
Dr. Sunitha Krishnan of Prajwala said like any trade, prostitution too was governed by demand and supply factors. If men stopped visiting brothels, trafficking of women and children and atrocities against them would decline, she said.Sensitising men
‘Prajwala’ rescued and rehabilitated 2,500 women and their tales exposed the racket of sex trade in various pockets of country.
“We realised it is crucial to sensitise men to stop atrocities against women,” she said.
Ms. Rajyalakshmi said people staged dharnas and went on strike for various demands but did little to denounce exploitation of hapless women and children.
Appreciating men who took the lead against prostitution, she said several factors like broken homes, domestic violence, illiteracy, poverty, unemployment force women and children step out of homes in search of better future but they get trapped and are forced into prostitution.
WDamp;CW Principal Secretary Chaya Ratan said 70 per cent of trafficked women were young girls denying them their childhood and better future

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]]> Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:08:00 EDT http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/460025 17.3752778 78.474444417.375277878.4744444 Problem of child labour in India http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/459625 by India Voice
August 19, 2008
Millions of children in today's world undergo the worst forms of child labor which includes Child Slavery, Child prostitution, Child Trafficking, Child Soldiers. In modern era of material and technological advancement, children in almost every country are being callously exploited. India has the dubious distinction of being the nation with the largest number of child laborers in the world. The child labors endure miserable and difficult lives. They earn little and struggle to make enough to feed themselves and their families. They do not go to school; more than half of them are unable to learn the barest skills of literacy.
Some times children are abandoned by their parents or sold to factory owners. The last two decades have seen tremendous growth of export based industries and mass production factories utilizing low technologies. They try to maintain competitive positions through low wages and low labor standards. The child laborers exactly suit their requirements. They use all means to lure the parents into giving their children on pretext of providing education and good life. In India majority of children work in industries, such as cracker making, diamond polishing, glass, brass-ware, carpet weaving, bangle making, lock making and mica cutting to name a few. 15% of the 100,000 children work in the carpet industry of Uttar Pradesh. 70-80% of the 8,000 to 50,000 children work in the glass industry in Ferozabad. In the unorganized sector child labor is paid by piece-by-piece rates that result in even longer hours for very low pay. Child labor is a global problem. If child labour is to be eradicated, the governments and agencies and those responsible for enforcement need to start doing their jobs. The most important thing is to increase awareness and keep discussing ways and means to check this problem.

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]]> Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:08:00 EDT http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/459625 17.3752778 78.474444417.375277878.4744444 Colloquium on “ Justice Delivery in Human Trafficking Crimes http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/459623 A Two day Colloquium on “ Justice Delivery in Human Trafficking Crimes” for Judicial Officers, Prosecutors and Police Officers on 4th and 5th August, 2007 in collaboration with UNODC and C.I.D., A.P.
Hon’ble Sri Justice G.S.Singhvi, Chief Justice, High Court of A.P amp; Patron-in-Chief has addressed the gathering and set the agenda for the colloquium. Sri M.Ratan, Addl.Director General of Police, C.I.D., Nodal Officer, Anti Trafficking, A.P pointed out the efforts of the State of Andhra Pradesh in curbing human trafficking. Sri Gary Lewis, Representative, UNODC, New Delhi presented the International perspective and the efforts of the United Nations in curbing human trafficking. Dr.P.M.Nair, Project Co.ordinator, UNODC who is behind the planning for colloquium addressed the gathering and interacted with the participants. Hon’ble Sri Justice .V.Seethapathi has participated in the interactive session. Smt.T.Rajani, District and Sessions Judge / Mahila Court, Hyderabad has interacted with the participants. Ms.Aparna Bhatt, Advocate of Supreme
Court of India enlightened the audience on “Laws and recent Court Rulings on Anti-Human Trafficking”. Sri Shivdhar Reddy, D.C.P.South Zone, Hyderabad City presented the experience at Guntur and the initiative taken by the police in curbing human trafficking.
Sri Mahesh Bhagwat, Superintendent of Police (Women Protection Cell) C.I.D. presented power point presentation and interacted with the participants on the effort of the police in curbing human trafficking with practical problems.
There was a visit arranged to PRAJWALA, a N.G.O. in Old City for the participants to experience theef forts of N.G.O. and the problems faced by them on the subject. Sri S.Umapathi, I.G.P., C.I.D. Hyderabad, Dr.C.N.Gopinatha Reddy, Director, A.P.Police Academy have interacted with the participants and explained the challenges in the present law enforcement process. Sri N.Ravi Shankar, the then Director, A.P.Judicial Academy and Sri M.Bhaskar, the then Director of Prosecutions have interacted with the participants
on the role of prosecution in justice delivery in trafficking crimes and victim / witness support. Dr.Buchi Reddy, Professor of Forensic Medicine, APPA interacted with the participants on role of Forensics in age determination / D.N.A. Finger Printing. Later in the concluding session Dr.P.M.Nair, Sri T.Krishna Prasad, Superintendent of Police moderated with the participants
on plan of action in expediting justice delivery in human trafficking crimes.

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]]> Wed, 20 Aug 2008 01:08:00 EDT http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/459623 17.3752778 78.474444417.375277878.4744444 Khammam turns source district for trafficking in women http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/449167 THE HINDU
Date:25/02/2008
Andhra Pradesh - Khammam
D. Chandra Bhaskar Rao
A strong network operating from Vijayawada is said to be behind the trade
KHAMMAM: A nine-year-old girl, who went missing from a tribal village in Yellandu area surfaced at Chilakaluripet in some time ago after spending more than two long years in captivity of a gang, thanks to the initiative of a good Samaritan.
He was touched by the sordid ordeal she had gone through and the vile indignities she was subjected to by the people running a brothel at Narsaraopet. She was purchased by them for a sum of Rs 20,000 and used for attracting young clients. She was sold yet again for Rs 29,000 to another party indulged in flesh trade.
Initiative
A youth who visited her was moved by her plight and alerted the police and tribal organizations in a bid to set her free from the traffickers. The initiative taken by the NGO helped in restoring the girl to her parents in March last. But she found it difficult to stay in her village for long on account of the little acceptability in the tribal community.
The entire family, disturbed by the steady stream of visitors, deserted the village. The experience of the girl from Yellandu cannot be viewed as an isolated case. More than 6,000 tribal girls from the district were languishing in the brothels in different cities for years and nearly 30 per cent of them are under 15, according to a study conducted by an NGO- Gram Vikas.
More of such cases were reported in the Yallandu, Manuguru and Bhadrachalam. The girls from these areas were found in good number, whenever the red light area was raided in Maharashtra. Khammam is now identified as a source district for trafficking.
A network operating from Vijayawada is said to be behind the trade.
The girls from the region had a sizeable presence in the red light areas in Mumbai, Pune, Kaptur, Nagpur and other major cities.
Some girls were released from gangs in Wani in Maharashtra and 16 of them were accommodated in a shelter house in Sathupali, said Satyanarayana Reddy from Gram Vikas.
Out of 8,000 persons reported missing in the State in 2006, some 400 were children particularly girls and about 5.6 lakh women from the State were cursing their fate in 150 red light areas, according to N. Rammohan of the “Help” - another NGO working on the issue of trafficking. He wanted a wholehearted approach for rehabilitation of such girls

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]]> Mon, 04 Aug 2008 09:08:00 EDT http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/449167 17.3752778 78.474444417.375277878.4744444 India becoming transit point for human traffickers: Minister http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/448083
Chennai, Aug 02: India is fast becoming a transit point as well as a destination for human traffickers from Nepal, Bangladesh and other Commonwealth nations, Union Minister of State for Law and Justice K Venkatapathy said on Saturday.

"A large number of children and women are reported missing every year in India. About 1,34,000 women are reported missing in India between 1996 and 2001. Trafficking has acquired grave dimensions with penetration of organised crime syndicates," the minister said.

He was speaking at a seminar on 'Consultation on methods to combat trafficking of children and women for commercial sexual exploitation in Tamil Nadu' here.

Venkatapathy said factors like underdevelopment, privatisation, liberalisation and commercialisation of agriculture had paved way for increase in trafficking of children and women in India.

Madras High Court Chief Justice A K Ganguly said while 30 per cent children enter prostitution after being raped, two per cent enter due to natural disasters which increase vulnerability of women and girls.

"Human trafficking has become major money making business next to arms and drug trafficking. Illiteracy coupled with poverty is the main reason, making women and children fall prey to trafficking," he said.

Tamil Nadu DGP K P Jain said the state, which had recently figured in high supply zone for traffickers, had constituted a special cell to check trafficking.

"We have appointed nodal officers in all the districts to monitor the trafficking. Only through sensitising the society we can bring an end to this menace," he added.

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]]> Sun, 03 Aug 2008 10:08:00 EDT http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/448083 17.3752778 78.474444417.375277878.4744444 Police sting ends career of prostitution kingpin http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/441679 29 May 2008, 0553 hrs IST,TNN
CHENNAI: The anti-vice squad (AVS), a wing of the city police, has arrested Mohan alias Mohan Reddy (43), the kingpin of a prostitution racket operating out of Valasaravakkam and Virugambakkam in the city. Reddy, whose illegal network stretched across the four southern states, was caught in a sting operation at Koyambedu when he supplied a woman to a police decoy. According to sources, Reddy, a film distributor, engaged thousands of woman — some of them film actresses and junior artists — and ran brothels in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The AVS team also rescued two AP woman and seized an Indica car (TN 01 V 1643), a Bajaj motorbike (TN 10 M 4210) and a few high-end mobile phones from Reddy. "He had been supplying actresses and young women to VIPs for over five years. There are many prostitution cases pending against him, including two with the AVS. He was absconding for some time and we caught him using a decoy on Tuesday," AVS inspector Udhayakumar told TOI. Udhayakumar said Reddy even used his own house on Ist Main Road in Alwar Tiru Nagar as a brothel. Reddy charged between Rs 5,000 and a few lakh rupees for the woman he supplied, sources said. "He mostly brought woman from Andhra Pradesh. He has distributed films and has close connections with both Tollywood and Kollywood. We have information regarding his connection with many actresses," the AVS inspector said. After the arrest of the pimp Kannada Prasad in Feb, 2007, Mohan Reddy was the second big target of the AVS. "Reddy is also a high-end pimp, who used all sorts of methods to lure woman into prostitution. Both men had good connection with the film world and supplied actresses to preferred customers. Both were able to supply woman in any southern state by just making a few phone calls," another police official said. The police is now tracking Reddy's network of brothels. The pimp was produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody

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]]> Tue, 29 Jul 2008 02:07:00 EDT http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/441679 17.3752778 78.474444417.375277878.4744444 SP stresses economic independence of women http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/439295
Date:25/07/2008
Andhra Pradesh -
Kadapa SP stresses economic independence of women
KADAPA: Women, irrespective of their religion and caste, can lead lives with confidence and earn respect when they become economically self-reliant, Kadapa Superintendent of Police Mahesh M. Bhagwat said on Thursday.
Speaking at an awareness programme on ‘Save the girl child’ at 30 Andhra Battalion NCC campus here, the SP said it was an offence to perform amniocentesis test to determine the gender of a foetus.

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]]> Sat, 26 Jul 2008 07:07:00 EDT http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/439295 17.3752778 78.474444417.375277878.4744444 Girls sold as helps for Rs 2,000 in capital, one held http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/436627 23 Jul 2008, 0303 hrs IST, Medha Chaturvedi,TNN
NEW DELHI: On Tuesday, a 25-year-old man was arrested by the IP Estate police on charges of trafficking young girls from tribal areas of Jharkhand to Delhi, luring them with promises of well-paying jobs. Accused Bhim reportedly supplied girls to a placement agency dealing in domestic helps in Shakurpur where he sold them for as little as Rs 2000. The agency, Birsa Bhagwan Tribal Society of India, registered under the Societies Act as an NGO, doubled as a placement agency and was allegedly involved in trafficking girls from Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orissa. The racket came to light when the mother of one of the girls Bhim had taken, a 10-year-old from a village in Jharkhand, never heard from her daughter after sending her to Delhi to work three years ago. The girl's mother approached Bachpan Bachao Aayog, which put her through to CWC which initiated the process of tracing the girl. "When we saw that police in Ranchi were not taking any action on our complaint, we followed Bhim to Delhi when he came to pick up another girl. We reached the Shakurpur placement agency and found that on the ground floor, they were running an NGO and the first floor was an apartment turned into a placement agency. We found several young girls there who had been promised jobs, but where they actually ended up, nobody knew. There were no proper records of the girls either," said Naresh Sengar, national secretary, Bachpan Bachao Aayog. He added that the 10-year-old girl they were looking for could not be traced in the records. "We had seven other women who had come with us to look for their respective children. All returned empty-handed," said Sengar. According to a police official, Bhim was arrested and charged with trafficking minors and abduction. He revealed the name of his accomplice, one Munni, who was now absconding. The owner of the placement agency and his brother were also arrested. Sengar alleged that the children were traded and trafficked like commodities and the "current rates" were around Rs 4,000 per child. "They are promised salaries of Rs 10,000 a month as lures. But the children end up either in the flesh trade or as domestic helps at salaries as low as Rs 1,200 a month. They are not paid for months on end, so that they don't leave. CWC helped us nab the criminals and thus we were able to rescue the children. However, search for the other children are still on," said Sengar.

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]]> Wed, 23 Jul 2008 02:07:00 EDT http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/436627 17.3752778 78.474444417.375277878.4744444 Grim reality: A survey of sex workers http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/434139 The Times of India -Breaking news, views. reviews, cricket from across India


Grim reality: A survey of sex workers
21 Jul 2008, 0204 hrs IST, Abantika Ghosh,TNN
These are shocking statistics that belie the close to 10% growth rate of the national economy and tell the story of a community that isn't. As per the law.
More than 41% women sex workers in the Capital's GB Road enter the profession because of sheer poverty, 39% of their own free will. Only 50% use condoms and the social welfare department says despite their best efforts health and hygiene standards cannot be improved too much beyond the occasional anonymous checks by mobile vans as the law does not recognise the existence of these women.
All the anti-trafficking laws notwithstanding, almost the entire population of GB Road comprises women, who have come from other states, Andhra Pradesh topping the list with 28.7% sex workers hailing from that state. These are the findings of a first-of-its-kind survey of Delhi's sex workers done by the Delhi Commission for Women.
The study - 400 commercial sex workers from G B Road were studied and inputs were also taken from the rescued women in government homes even if their numbers were not included in the sample size - aimed at a need assessment of Delhi's sex workers and their children and also to draw up a demographic and health profile of the neglected community in order to draw up a comprehensive policy for prevention of trafficking and incidence of HIV-AIDS.
The study found that the work is mainly conducted through the kotha malkins who pockets a large percentage of the income so that for an average sex worker the monthly income is quite low, 72.5% earn between Rs 3,000-5,000 and 20.7% earn more than Rs 5,000.
State social welfare minister Yoganand Shastri said: "The study which is the first of its kind, will help us get a perspective on the extent of the problem and formulate policies accordingly. But there are inherent dichotomies in the system that make things difficult.
For one, it is only when a woman rescued and taken to Nirmal Chhaya that we can really help them because the law does not recognise the profession at all. We do undertake surreptitious checks with the MITWA mobile vans, but that does not always suffice."
Commenting about the low condom usage and dismal awareness about STDs (less than 50% know about them and 46.5% are infected), Shastri said: "The Delhi State Aids Control Society (DSACS) had put up condom vending machines in all major houses in the area and they are kept well-supplied. Unless the legal constraints go there is not much more that we can do about it."
A whopping 57.5% of respondents admitted to substance abuse with smoking being the most popular one, followed by alcohol, heroin and marijuana. 23.7% complained of exploitation, 54.4% of them held the police responsible.
Interestingly, more than 85% of these women have some sort of identity proof like ration card, voter I-card or even passport which they procure with help from cops. While more than 60% of women surveyed have children, only 40% of them go to school, a figure that commission officials say bodes ill for the objective of preventing second generation entry into the profession

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]]> Mon, 21 Jul 2008 01:07:00 EDT http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/434139 17.3752778 78.474444417.375277878.4744444 Flesh Trade industry Flourishes- watch Video http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/429527 India's national commission for women or NCW has expressed concern over rise in women trafficking in Siliguri, as unscrupulous agents trap women promising them jobs. Driven by poverty, the lure of job and better wages is too tempting to resist. But most women end up in brothels and become victims of...
Follow the link
http://www.mediascrape.com/News/ViewNewsItem.aspx?newsItemId=42931

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]]> Sun, 20 Jul 2008 03:07:00 EDT http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/429527 17.3752778 78.474444417.375277878.4744444 'India must criminalise buying of sex, anti-trafficking laws' http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/429449 Dharam Shourie, Press Trust Of India
New York, June 03, 2008
India should criminalise buying of sex and strengthen its anti-trafficking laws, a global rights watchdog has said.
In a statement issued on the eve of UN General Assembly debate on steps needed to stop trafficking, Equality Now on Monday urged Indian government to take steps for early passage of amendments to the 1956 Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act (ITPA), which would involve a crackdown on buyers of sex.
The desired changes, it stressed, would be a positive step in stopping trafficking in women and children.
The organisation regretted that the amendments, which recognised sexual exploitation as inherent in prostitution, were "languishing for two years with no end in sight," mostly because of ill-advised resistance from HIV/AIDS lobby.
The amendments, it said, would decriminalise women in prostitution but criminalise the "real and often invisible perpetrators" the buyers of prostitution, pimps and brothel owners.
The HIV/AIDS lobby mistakenly believed that targeting demand would curtail use of condom to prevent the spread of the disease, it said.
"The grim reality, however, is that women in prostitution are often unable to negotiate condom use and are at high risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. As one Indian woman named Beenu, who is in prostitution says, 'Few people agree to use a condom. And if they don't, I cannot force them.'"
The most effective way to protect women like Beenu would be by curtailing the commercial sex industry, Equality Now stressed.
Referring to UN debate, the organisation warned that too much had been said about trafficking and much-needed money was spent in talking about it. However, little else had been done to end the scourge.
"Extensive rhetoric has been generated by UN conferences like the Vienna Forum (earlier this year) and standards have already been set in international treaties like the UN Protocol to Prevent Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, adopted in 2000.
"But what is lacking is the political will to curb the multi-billion dollar industry," it added and called on the States to make specific commitments, enact strong laws and support grassroots anti-trafficking groups.
The global body argued sex trafficking disproportionately affected women and girls who constitute 80 per cent of the victims.
A majority of them are trafficked into the commercial sex trade.
The demand for prostitution, it said, is the driving force for the trafficking of women and girls for sexual purposes.
Prostitution preys on the most vulnerable women and children who are poor, of colour, from "lower" castes, and/or immigrants, it emphasised.
Instead of controlling prostitution, legalisation has led to a "disastrous outbreak of increased exploitation of women in the sex trade, sex trafficking and other related crimes," Taina Bien-Aim Executive Director of Equality Now said.
"In fact the German government and the Mayor of Amsterdam (where prostitution is legal) on separate occasions noted that their prostitution laws have not been effective in boosting transparency in brothels. Amsterdam is now working to shut down a third of its brothels," the organisation said

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]]> Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:07:00 EDT http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/429449 17.3752778 78.474444417.375277878.4744444 Three held on charge of human trafficking http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/399061 THE HINDU
Date:30/06/2008
Andhra Pradesh -
Kadapa Three held on charge of human trafficking
Special Correspondent
KADAPA: Rayachoti police arrested Pasupuleti Veera Nagaiah, Jeelani and Mahaboob Basha and remanded them on charges of resorting to human trafficking, Kadapa Superintendent of Police Mahesh M. Bhagwat said on Sunday. The police are making efforts to apprehend Nazeer, who was allegedly involved in trafficking of women to Kuwait in the past.
A 40-year-old woman victim (whose name the police withheld) of Gorlamudivedu village in Rayachoty had approached Pasupuleti Veera Nagaiah collected Rs. 40,000 from her promising to send her to Kuwait as a maid servant. He sent her to Kuwait through an unauthorised agent Jeelani of Rayachoty and his brother Mahaboob Basha, the SP told a press conference. In Kuwait, Nazeer, another brother of Jeelani, sold the victim to a brothel house, where she was confined for 10 days along with some other women, he stated. The victim managed to escape through a bathroom window of the brothel house and approached the police station and were jailed as they did not possess relevant documents, he said. Complaint lodged
The victim and another woman of Rayachoti and three women of West Godavari contacted the Indian Embassy and they were sent back to India, Mr. Bhagwat stated. The victim lodged a complaint and on its basis, Rayachoti Urban police registered a case under section 420 IPC, section 24 (1) AP Immigration Act, sections 3, 4 and 5 of Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act against Jeelani, Pasupuleti Veera Nagaiah, Mahaboob Basha of Rayachoty and Nazeer, resident of Kuwait, the SP said.
He appealed to people not to approach unauthorised agents. People aspiring to go abroad should obtain insurance from Pravasa Bharathi Bima Yojana. They could contact the Indian Embassy in Kuwait if they encountered problems]]> Mon, 30 Jun 2008 10:06:00 EDT http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/399061 17.3752778 78.474444417.375277878.4744444 Human Trafficking racket busted by Kadapa Police in A.P. http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/398555 Human Trafficking racket busted
(three traffickers arrested).

Kadapa (A.P., India) 29/06/2008:- Brief facts of the case is one victim (Name with held) : aged 40 yrs, native of Gorlamudivedu village, Rayachoty, Approached Pasupuleti Veera Nagaiah who has promised her to send to Kuwait as a maid servant. Veera Nagaiah has collected Rs.40,000/- from the victim and sent her to Kuwait through an unauthorized agent Jeelani of Rayachoty and his brother Mahaboob Basha. In Kuwait one Nazeer another brother of Jeelani has contacted the victim and sold her to a brothel house. The victim was confined in the brothel house for 10 days along with other ladies. One day the victim along with other ladies escaped through a bathroom window of the brothel house, ran away to Police station without any passports or other documents. Kuwait police sent her to jail. Subsequently with the help of Indian Embassy she along with another lady of Rayachoty, 3 more victims of West Godawari were sent back to India .
Basing on the complaint of the victim a case in Crime No.110/08, u/s 420 IPS, Sec 24 (1) AP Immigration Act, Sec 3,4,5 of PITA Act of Rayachoty (U) PS against the accused Jeelani, Pasupuleti Veera Nagaiah, Mahaboob Basha of Rayachoty and Nazeer resident of Kuwait.
Rayachoty Urban C.I arrested Pasupultei Veera Nagaiah (A1), Jeelani (A2), and sent for remand. On 27-6-08 Mahaboob Basha was arrested and sent for judicial remand. Further investigation is in progress to arrest Nazeer and his associates in Kuwait . It is learnt that earlier also Jeelani and Nazeer has trafficked ladies to Kuwait .
We are alerting the citizens that not to get trapped in the human trafficking scam. Process visa papers through authorized registered immigration agent, obtain insurance from Pravasi Bharathiya Beema Yojana. In case of any problems arise in Kuwait they can immediately contact Indian Embassy in Kuwait as well as send information against bogus agents to SP, Kadapa
Fax No.08562 244967, email address: sp@kdp.appolice.gov.in

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]]> Sun, 29 Jun 2008 11:06:00 EDT http://mmbips.tigblog.org/post/398555 17.3752778 78.474444417.375277878.4744444