Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, May 13: Justice M K Hanjura, Judge, High Court of J&K today said that human trafficking is a crime against humanity and is the third largest organized crime after drugs and the arms trade across the globe.
Justice Hanjura said this after inaugurating one day judicial colloquium on ‘Prevention of Human Trafficking’, which was organised by Jammu & Kashmir State Judicial Academy (JKSJA) in collaboration with Ministry of Home Affairs, GoI for Judicial Officers of Kashmir Division, here today.
Addressing the Judicial Officers, Justice Hanjura said that the crime involves an act of recruiting, transporting, transforming, harbouring or receiving a person through the use of force, coercion or other means, for the purpose of exploiting them.
“Human trafficking is a $32 billion industry worldwide. The United Nations estimate that between 0.8 million and 04 million men, women and children are deceived, recruited, transported from their homes and sold into slavery around the world each year,” he said, adding that India is considered as the hub of human trafficking in Asia and as per the statistics of the government, in every eight minutes, a child goes missing in the country”, Justice informed.
Justice Hasnain Massodi, Former Judge of High Court of J&K, V K Singh, Special Director General of Police, J&K, Ravi Kant, Advocate (Resource Person), Director JKSJA, Abdul Rashid Malik also shared the podium, besides all the Judicial Officers, Principal Judges, District Judges and several others were present on the occasion.
Resource Persons Justice Hasnain Massodi, Ravi Kant and Abdul Rashid Malik, deliberated upon the dimensions, challenges and existing responses on human trafficking, laws/court practices relating to sex trafficking, labour exploitation and juvenile justice, voices of trafficked survivors, besides role of NGOs in victim protection, rescue, care and support, role of Government in prevention, protection and rehabilitation.
Different provisions of RPC including Section 370 and 370A, the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1956, Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2013 and Victim Compensation Scheme were also discussed in the Colloquium. The Judicial Officers interacted with the Resource Persons on different problems and dimensions of Human Trafficking faced by the Courts and appropriate responses to tackle peculiar situations of Human Trafficking.
Director, JKSJA highlighted the aim and objective of the Colloquium and emphasised that women and children are the key target group of Human Trafficking because of their marginalisation and limited economic resources.
He also said that poverty, inadequate education and employment opportunities, economic disparities, globalisation, migration, erosion of traditional family values, the growth of transnational crime and weak law enforcement are the main causes of Human Trafficking.
Judiciary and Police has a critical role to address the plight of victim of Human Trafficking as well as identifying the trafficker behind this organised crime, he added.
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