Date:18/08/2007

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Special Correspondent

Minister admits to loopholes in the existing laws to deal with the offence
ATIENT HEARING: Women and Child Welfare Minister N. Rajyalakshmi interacting with children at a seminar in Hyderabad on Friday.

HYDERABAD: Women and Child Welfare Minister N. Rajyalakshmi stressed the need for severe punishment to those indulging in trafficking in women.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the South India consultation on “Standards of care for survivors of sex trafficking” here on Friday, Ms. Rajyalakshmi said that the State Government had not arrived at a decision on the quantum of punishment for trafficking but wanted to make it a deterrent measure. She admitted that there were bottlenecks in the existing laws to deal with the offence.

Issue to be addressed
The Minister promised to take a decision soon on how to tackle trafficking based on the outcome of the consultation. She said trafficking in women had assumed alarming proportions in the State. Gullible women and girls from the coastal districts fell victims to traffickers who ultimately made a fast buck without any investment.
Earlier, addressing the convention, Mrs. Rajyalakshmi informed the meeting that a comprehensive policy and an action plan was required to ensure that victims of commercial sex were not drawn to the trade again.

Quality material
Vasudha Misra, Secretary, Women and Child Welfare, said the Government hoped to get quality material from the deliberations so that it could straightaway implement it as a policy. She said the Government was eager to learn about the physical conditions that should be developed at homes where the victims were rehabilitated. They stood the danger of being re-trafficked if the homes were not comfortable or were deprived of psychological counselling. Sunita Krishnan of an NGO, ‘Prajwala,’ which co-hosted the event with the Women and Child Welfare Department said the minimum standards of care at rehabilitation centres were contemplated in the background of re-trafficking of victims.