Hyderabad, July 01: US Embassy Charge d’ Affaires Steven White today felicitated Inspector General of police (CID) S Umapathi for being named in the 2010 Trafficking In Persons (TIP) report.
Umapathi was named the TIP hero by US Department of State’s office for monitoring and combatting trafficking in persons. White said that anti-trafficking efforts has been an important bilateral issue between India and USA.
Umapathi is the first Indian government official to be honoured for his TIP work.
Speaking on the occasion, Umapathi said that the fight against human trafficking is a long and continuous battle as it has to be dealt with the organised criminal groups.
“The cracking down of human trafficking started since 2005 as Ministry of Home Affairs was extremely determined to deal with this issue. Besides, the S16 project was implemented successfully for the rehabilitation of the trafficking victims,’’ the officer said. Nearly 5,000 police personnel were trained to deal with human trafficking issues in Andhra Pradesh Police Academy (APPA).
The sections 368(abduction), 372 (selling minors for the purpose of prostitution), 373 (buying minors for the purpose of prostitution) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been effectively enforced against the accused involved in the trafficking cases. US Consulate officials said that Umapathi successfully implemented a rescue protocol that included a payment of interim relief for trafficking victims.
–Agencies