HC expresses concern over human trafficking

 Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Wednesday expressed concern over human trafficking menace in Telangana and the country, while dealing with a batch of PILs about the welfare of the destitute and functioning of child welfare centres in the state.

The division bench of Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N. Tukaramji observed that there was much to do to prevent, protect, rescue and rehabilitate trafficking victims.

The court was dealing with PILs that mentioned a lack of sufficient government-run rehabilitation centres, including child welfare centres, for rescued victims.

Earlier, the court had appointed senior counsel D. Prakash Reddy as amicus curiae to assist the court and submit a report by visiting the centres. The court had also assigned work to Telangana State Legal Services Authority (TSLSA) and District Legal Services Authority (DSLA) to file reports with respect to rehabilitation centres and rescue homes in their respective districts.

On Wednesday, TSLSA’s standing counsel Jukanti Anil Kumar compiled all reports received from the DLSAs, drawing the attention of the court to the poor conditions of most child welfare homes, most of which are managed by NGOs.

Deepak Mishra, the counsel for Prajwala, one of the petitioners, pointed out to the court that all the matters were interconnected and respondents were not implementing provisions of the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act of 1956, by adequately setting up rescue homes in consonance with minimum standards of care and security requirements.

Senior counsel L. Ravichander said that in 2014, according to the directions of the court, a committee was appointed to inspect the child welfare centres in the erstwhile undivided Andhra Pradesh. Ravichander, highlighting that the committee was headed by him, said a detailed report on the functioning of child welfare centres, their status and infrastructure was filed in court along with the said report, which contained several measures and also certain recommendations for the proper implementation of the Juvenile Justice Act.

Besides, Telangana DGP, secretary to the state government, women, children, disabled and senior citizen welfare department filed their affidavits stating that anti-human trafficking units (AHTUs) were established in 31 police districts/commisionerates to tackle trafficking, which was highly organised conventional, as well as a digital/online, crime.

Further, an affidavit stated that the women’s safety wing is the nodal agency to monitor the functioning of AHTUs in all districts of Telangana.

After hearing the contentions, the court asked the amicus curiae to make necessary submissions on the next date of the hearing, July 12.