65% of trafficked kids traced, brought back to mainstream

Kolkata: Twelve-year-old Sanket (name changed), who was found last year at the Howrah station with broken bones after being trafficked for labour, returned to school and now commutes on a bicycle bought with govt sponsorship support. Sanket, from East Midnapore, was trafficked to Rajkot in Gujarat after being promised education and care, according to his family. Instead, he was allegedly forced into bonded labour at a gold manufacturing unit, working 12 to 14 hours a day for nearly two years. The case came to light when Sanket was located by the RPF in a critical condition. His parents received a call and rescued him. Police registered an FIR based on his statements, triggering a rescue operation that led to the recovery of 19 other children.

NGO working as technical consultant claimed in a report that assisted Sanket with his transition back to the mainstream, along with the govt, released a report on the present condition of bonded labour and trafficking in Bengal on the occasion of the golden jubilee of abolition of the bonded labour, the law called the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976.


The NGO, in collaboration with State Legal Service Authorities, also held a number of legal awareness camps in this regard on Monday. According to this report, the state's long and porous border with Bangladesh, stretching more than 2,200 km, was widely cited by enforcement agencies and researchers as a factor that increased risk, alongside poverty and unsafe migration.

Data cited in recent reports indicated India recorded rough6 trafficking cases annually between 2018 and 2022, with Bengal among the most affected states. However, on a brighter note, more than 65% of these children are now actively traced and brought back to the mainstream.

"Trafficking and bonded survivors from Bengal were found exploited in sectors such as gold and imitation jewellery manufacturing, garment units, domestic work, agriculture, brick kilns and stone quarrying. Nationally, tens of thousands of children were rescued from labour and exploitation in recent years, but conviction rates remained low and compensation was often delayed, according to multiple reports," the report further stated.

While Bengal set up Anti-Human Trafficking Units under the CID to coordinate rescues and investigations, and rehabilitation mechanisms including the West Bengal Victim Compensation Scheme and the "Muktir Alo" programme. A key outreach programme was held at the Howrah station in the presence of Niladri Kumar Nath, Railway Magistrate, Howrah Station, and human rights activist Md Imtiaz Bharati. The initiative was organised by Anubhuti, a coalition of NGOs, in collaboration with the Bengal GRP.