U.S. Department of State 2005 Trafficking in Persons Report - India

India (Tier 2 Watch List)

India is a source, transit, and destination country for women, men, and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual and labor exploitation. Indian men and women are trafficked into situations of involuntary servitude in countries in the Middle East and children may be forced to work as beggars or camel jockeys. Bangladeshi women and children are trafficked to India or trafficked through India en route to Pakistan and the Middle East for purposes of sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, and forced labor. Nepalese women and girls are trafficked to India for sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, and forced labor. India is also a growing destination for sex tourists from Europe, the United States, and other Western countries. Internal trafficking of women, men, and children for the purposes of sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, bonded labor, and indentured servitude is widespread. Numerous studies show that the vast majority of females in the Indian commercial sex industry are currently victims of sexual servitude or were originally trafficked into the sex trade. India is also home to millions of victims of forced or bonded labor.

The Government of India does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. The quality and magnitude of the government's anti-trafficking response, particularly in the law enforcement area, are seriously insufficient relative to India's huge trafficking in persons problem. Some important improvements were observed in the efforts of the new government that came into power in June 2004. The Congress-led government has made efforts to consolidate and coordinate central government anti-trafficking efforts through the empowerment of the Secretary for Women and Child Development, who serves as the government's "nodal officer" for anti-trafficking programs and policies. Modest but uneven improvements in anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts were seen in some localities, most notably the cities of Mumbai and Chennai and the states of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. The use of fast-track courts was the key to greater prosecutions and convictions in Tamil Nadu while sustaining a high number of trafficking convictions in New Delhi. The March 2005 order by the Home Minister of Maharashtra state to close down "dance bars" – many of which served as prostitution and trafficking outlets – may check a new trend of traffickers favoring this more sophisticated and concealed format for selling victims trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation over more blatant brothel-based trafficking.

India is placed on Tier 2 Watch List for a second consecutive year for its inability to show evidence of increased efforts to address trafficking in persons, particularly its lack of progress in forming a national law enforcement response to inter-state and transnational trafficking crimes. The government also lacked a meaningful response to the significant problem of trafficking-related complicity of law enforcement officials. The central government needs to designate and empower a national law enforcement entity to carry out investigations and law enforcement operations against trafficking crimes with nation-wide jurisdiction. This major deficiency was highlighted by state-level law enforcement officials who, at a 2004 conference, pointed to the difficulty in investigating trafficking crimes across state lines and coordinating with other states' police forces in accounting for the low level of trafficking-related prosecutions and convictions in India.

Prosecution

Overall, Indian anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts remained weak, though notable progress was seen in particular localities. Comprehensive statistics on trafficking-related investigations, prosecutions, convictions, and sentences were not available, though statistics obtained from several key cities and states showed 195 prosecutions and 82 convictions obtained for offenses related to trafficking for sexual exploitation in 2004. An estimated 2,058 prosecutions and 1,051 convictions for child labor offenses were obtained in 2004 throughout India.

India has adequate laws to address trafficking for sexual exploitation of adults and children. The Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act (ITPA) criminalizes the offenses of selling, procuring, and exploiting any person for commercial sex as well as profiting from prostitution. However, Section 8 of the ITPA also criminalizes the act of solicitation for prostitution, which has been used in the past to arrest and punish women and girls who are victims of trafficking. The Inter-Ministerial Committee on Trafficking in Persons has drafted revisions to the ITPA, in consultation with civil society groups, and has submitted these revisions to Parliament for consideration. The revisions would eliminate Section 8, thereby affording victims of trafficking greater protections.

The Juvenile Justice Act of 1986, amended in 2001, provides modest criminal penalties for sexual offenses committed against minors, including the prostitution of children, but provides strong protections for child victims of trafficking through the oversight of Child Welfare Committees in each state and mandatory care provided in state-approved protection homes.

Indian laws against trafficking for labor purposes, however, are inadequate as they do not offer sufficient criminal penalties for those who are responsible for forced or bonded labor, child labor, and domestic servitude. The Child Labor Act of 1986 has adequate provisions for the freeing and rehabilitation of children found in forced labor conditions, but carries provisions for criminal sentences of a maximum of only three years. Moreover, the enforcement mechanism for this Act appears insufficient – giving the mandate to local Magistrates who are overburdened and ill-trained to carry out the law's requirements. Similarly, the Abolition of Bonded Labor Act of 1976 provides adequate protections for victims of bonded labor but carries only a maximum sentence of three years' imprisonment. Few prison sentences have been handed down under this Act. Moreover, the enforcement of this Act is left in the hands of local magistrates who are over-worked and ill-trained to enforce the Act fully and who are charged with the competing mandate of collecting state taxes from the businesses that employ bonded laborers.

Endemic corruption among law enforcement officials impedes Indian efforts to effectively combat trafficking in persons crimes. Many low-level border guards accept bribes or turn a blind eye to cross-border trafficking. Some police officers have been implicated in tipping off brothels to impending raids and profiting from the proceeds of brothels that enslave trafficking victims. As noted, efforts to curb this trafficking-related corruption have been minimal, usually amounting to officers' transfers or, at best, forced retirement. During the reporting period only two cases of ongoing prosecutions of law enforcement officers for complicity in trafficking were noted. There are also, however, committed police in Chennai, Mumbai, and New Delhi who have worked actively with NGOs to target traffickers and to safeguard victims after their rescue.

In 2004, courts in Mumbai prosecuted 53 persons for trafficking-related offenses, handing down 11 convictions. While this is an increase over 2003, the level of prosecution remains inadequate relative to Mumbai's role as the largest center for sex trafficking in India. Mumbai lacks special "fast-track" courts for trafficking crimes; consequently, trafficking prosecutions can take as long as eight years, often resulting in acquittals due to lost evidence and unavailable witnesses.

Protection

The central government continues to show inadequate and uneven efforts to protect victims of trafficking, challenged by the decentralized nature of Indian Government social support programs and limited resources. The Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD) – the central government's nodal anti-trafficking office – improved coordination of support services delivery through greater coordination with states' departments of women and child development and civil society organizations. Government-run shelters in some localities, like Mumbai, improved significantly over the last year. Other areas lack government-provided shelters dedicated for trafficking victims. During the reporting period, efforts by state governments to develop formal referral systems – through which police regularly refer victims of trafficking to qualified NGO service providers – improved in some areas, but remained woefully inadequate in other localities. In New Delhi, an innovative program was launched, requiring police to provide trafficking victims with counseling from a qualified NGO within 24 hours. This assured level of protection has led to greater victim cooperation with police in investigating and prosecuting traffickers.

In Mumbai, the state-run "Deonar" home for underage trafficking victims has improved its collaboration with U.S. Government-funded NGOs and, as a result, improved the level of care provided to victims it shelters. Police in Mumbai have adopted policies that show greater care for trafficking victims; the police commissioner has instructed police not to arrest women involved in prostitution for solicitation under India's anti-trafficking and anti-prostitution law – a punishment that often re-victimized trafficking victims in the past.

Prevention

In 2004, the new central government made significant progress in improving a coordinated approach to preventing trafficking in persons. A newly installed Secretary for Women and Child Development was designated the nodal officer to coordinate and oversee all anti-trafficking programs and policies. Since her appointment in mid-2004, the Secretary has reinvigorated the National Central Advisory Committee on Trafficking Persons, including civil society organizations and state-level agencies in frank and productive consultations. Under the Secretary's leadership, the Committee has introduced much-needed revisions to the ITPA and has begun drafting changes to the 1998 national plan of action on trafficking. Through the Committee, the government coordinated more closely with NGOs, on which it relies for the bulk of anti-trafficking prevention activity in India. The Secretary and her staff have traveled widely, training hundreds of state and police officials in over 20 training sessions.

In late 2004, India's National Human Rights Commission released a lengthy two-year assessment of the trafficking situation in India, including recommended actions for the government to take in preventing future trafficking. The Human Rights Commission also undertook a study of the sex tourism phenomenon in Goa, a popular international tourist destination. The National Commission for Women joined with the Maharashtra State Commission for Women in holding a workshop on sex tourism in that state.