Reports of trafficking in young women by deceitful agents whisking them away to far off lands like Dubai, Malaysia and Singapore and forcing them in flesh trade have come to light. Pathetic tales of young women and unskilled youths having pushed into flesh trade or into hazardous work will make you think twice for going abroad.
Mediators and agents are targeting the girls and young women, who are steeped in poverty, by offering jobs in abroad. A woman from West Godavari is one among many who is lured to work in a honey packing unit in Muscat. But she got a big shocked when she learns that she has to work as sex worker.
On hearing the harrowing tales of the girls there, I decided to go back to India, she said. She was also offered a lucrative job in Malaysia but she refused to take it because the agent admitted that he wanted to recruit her for the same job.
One more girl; says, agent took the photo of the girl and she was immediately offered a job. On landing in Dubai, she pushes into flesh trade. “It was really a hell on earth. Girls in the trade suffered burns and cuts in the hands of men,” she told the police with tears rolling down her cheeks.
Two years ago as many as 22 women and minor girls facing sexual harassment were rescued from a brick kiln in Andhra- Odisha border. Last year eight minor girls were rescued from brothels in the city. Not only she many from the State are in hellholes.
But none of the cases found their way to the police records or none of the offenders were booked under the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act (ITPA). The number of people trafficked or attempted for trafficking increased to 29,000 in 2012/13, compared to 11,500 in 2011.
Govt is just raising slogans on “women safety”, but unable to get hand on the culprits, says a local. If police take a stringent action against the deceitful agents and the offenders then only women can be safe, says a girl who recently freed from brothels.