GUWAHATI:
A total of 481 cases of child trafficking have been reported in various parts of the state from 2016 to 2022, the Assam government informed the State Assembly on March 20.
Replying to an unstarred question from Congress MLA Nandita Das, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informed the House that of 481 cases, 185 are male and 574 are female children.
25 cases are of children of 0-5 age group, 59 children of 5-10 age, 353 of 10-15 age and 322 children are of 16-18 age group, Sarma said.
134 cases have been reported from urban areas while 625 cases have been recorded from rural areas of the state during this period.
The chief minister informed the House that 77 cases have been reported from Guwahati city, 59 from Lakhimpur, 44 from Udalguri, 43 from Sonirpur, 36 from Morigaon and 31 cases have been from Kokrajhar district.
625 children were rescued by the police, Government Railway Police and Anti Human Trafficking Unit of Crime Investigation Department (CID) of the state police force, he also said.
During this period, 23 cases of child cases have been reported in various places of Boko, Chaygaon, Changsari, Rangiya in Kamrup district. Of them, six children are yet to be rescued, he further said.
Four cases have been found in Nagaon district where children have been trafficked for other crimes like child marriage, child labour, forced begging, sexual exploitation, and illegal trade of organs, he said.
“Anti Human Trafficking Units (AHTU) have been created and operationalized in all districts of the state to effectively combat crimes related to trafficking of persons, especially women and children,” the chief minister said.
“These AHTUs are responsible for investigation/monitoring of all cases of human trafficking in the district. SP (Anti Human Trafficking) in CID Assam supervises the functioning of the AHYUs in the districts.
The Anti-Human Trafficking cell in CID Assam supervises important cases regarding human trafficking in the state and other such organized human trafficking cases.
From May 10, 2021, to December 31, 2022, a total of 207 human trafficking cases were registered, 177 human traffickers were arrested, and 368 victims were rescued in the state, the chief minister said.
To enhance the capacity of government personnel responsible for checking child trafficking, regular training is provided in the CID organisation for all police personnel handling such cases.
A total of 921 pieces of training were conducted during 2020, 1728 in 2021 and 127 in 2022, he added.