Forced labour, coerced marriages, sexual exploitation among reasons
Bivek Mathur
JAMMU, May 14: The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir recorded 60 victims of human trafficking during 2024, with forced labour identified as the major reason behind the trafficking in persons, according to a latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
Follow the Daily Excelsior channel on WhatsApp
Coerced marriages, sexual exploitation for prostitution and domestic servitude were among the other major reasons behind human trafficking in the region, the report stated.
According to the NCRB report titled “Crime in India 2024”, while 60 trafficking victims were identified in the UT, 58 persons were rescued during anti-trafficking operations conducted by law enforcement agencies in 2024.
Of the total 60 victims identified, 36 persons were trafficked for forced labour, followed by 12 for forced marriages, 8 for sexual exploitation for prostitution and 2 for domestic servitude.
The report stated that the victims identified during 2024 included 8 girls below 18 years of age, 36 adult males and 16 adult females.
Meanwhile, of the total 58 rescued victims, 8 were girls below 18 years of age, 36 were adult males and 14 were adult females.
The nationality-wise break-up of rescued persons indicated the involvement of inter-state and cross-border trafficking networks, as of the total rescued victims, 4 were Indian nationals, including 1 male and 3 females, while 35 were Nepalese citizens-all males-and the remaining 19 rescued victims were females belonging to other nationalities.
According to the NCRB report, a total of 17 human trafficking cases were registered in Jammu and Kashmir during 2024, compared to 10 cases in 2023 and 8 cases in 2022, indicating a gradual increase in such offences in the region.
Of the total cases registered during the year, 13 were lodged under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), while 4 cases were registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the report said.
The report stated that investigating agencies filed charge-sheets in 13 cases and submitted final reports in 3 others, taking the overall charge-sheeting rate to 81.3 per cent.
Further, the report said police arrested 45 accused in connection with human trafficking cases during the year, while 42 persons were charge-sheeted.
However, no conviction was recorded during 2024 as trials in the registered cases were not completed during the period under review, the NCRB figures showed.
The data further revealed that 26 Anti Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) were functional across 36 police districts in Jammu and Kashmir as on December 31, 2024.
Pertinently, a total of 2,135 human trafficking cases were registered by Anti Human Trafficking Units across States and Union Territories in the country during 2024. Telangana recorded the highest number of such cases at 423, followed by Maharashtra with 337 and Andhra Pradesh with 159 cases.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
