Anti human trafficking clubs put to good use

Chennai: As part of their first initiative since the Anti Human Trafficking Club was set up only a week ago, a case of possible trafficking was taken to Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women on Saturday.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Mohammad, student convener of the AHT Club and a student of the Madras School of Social Work, said that an informant approached them with the case. "An informant from the same locality of a 25-year-old girl complained that she was allegedly lured and is being made to stay in a confinement forcefully by a man in Dindigul. As we do not have the authority to take action, the AHT drafter a complaint and submitted it to the Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women," Mohammad said. The Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women has promised the AHT to follow through and has already traced the informant and is probing the case, he added.

 In another incident, a group of AHT club members travelling from Chennai Central spotted a boy who seemed lost. "He could not even understand anything we said to him. "Then, one of our members tried speaking to him in Hindi and he could understand it," Mohammad said. "He kept mixing up where he was from- sometimes it was Nepal and sometimes Assam. We then took him to the Childline booth in the railway station. they will probe his history and see what can be done," he said. 

 The AHT clubs are only a part of creating awareness on human trafficking. "It is the third largest crime in the world after drug smuggling and illegal arms deals but most people, even the youth are blissfully unaware," Mohammad said.

 People should become more receptive to people looking helpless and distressed, believes Solomon, convener and a social worker from the International Justice Mission (IJM).  "If it is a woman, the government has recently set up the '181' helpline. If the person has been taken for labour trafficking, under bonded labour, it comes under Section 370, and a legal case has to be filed. The collector and other district administration must be informed, the all-women police stations too, are a good place to help" he said. "Child labour and trafficking too must be taken seriously. The child helpline of 1098 should be contacted and a rescue team will take it from there," Solomon added.