Cops trained to handle human trafficking better

Guwahati, Sep 24 (UNI) As many as 86 girls of Asom escaped or were rescued between April and September as per the trafficking incidents reported in the media.

The total figure, including cases which go unreported and untraced, would be alarmingly high.

These startling figures were presented by Impulse NGO Network during their three-day Training of Law Enforcement in Combating Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Women and Children, which ended here yesterday.

The training had been organised in collaboration with Asom Police and state partners Sahayika and Global Organization for Live Development (GOLD).

Impulse President Hasina Kharbhih informed that the training programme would focus mainly on law enforcers' understanding and handling of sensitive issues of human trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and children.

She said, ''The situation is alarming in every North East state, especially in Asom.'' The training topics covered Immoral Trafficking and Prevention Act (ITPA), Convention on the Rights of a Child (CRC), Concept of Human Trafficking, Juvenile Justice Act and Professional Policing, she added.

Altogether 90 human trafficking women were rescued in Asom over the past seven years, as records of cases brought to the notice of the Impluse NGO Network.

The records put the figures for Meghalaya at 64, for Manipur at nine, two each for Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Tripura and Nagaland one.

Ms Kharbhih maintained that the actual numbers would be extremely higher. ''Most cases go unreported and many cases of trafficking are dealt as missing cases,'' she said.

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