Annual Report - National Human Rights Commission

Annexure 10
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major intervention agency, especially when it comes to rescue and rehabilitation.
Problem: Lack of co-ordination between the police, judiciary and government institutions with
regard to rescue and rehabilitation process at the district level and absence of monitoring system
related to the problem of trafficking at the State and Central levels.
Recommendation: An Inter-Departmental Coordination structure should be set up to facilitate
and monitor the process of rescue and rehabilitation at the district level, and Advisory Bodies at
Central and State levels to monitor the problem of trafficking and bottlenecks in the
implementation of ITPA and other provisions relating to rescue, rehabilitation and reintegration
of victims.
Problem: Lack of informed and sensitized officials to deal with the subject of proper
implementation of law and procedure pertaining to trafficking.
Recommendation: Training organizations at Central and State level should focus on sensitization,
dissemination of knowledge and training of ground level staff from the police, judiciary and
women and child welfare departments. The objective behind this should be to develop personnel
who know the correct legal framework and are aware of issues related to rescue, rehabilitation
and reintegration. The training institutions could take the help of field-based organizations to
achieve this objective.
Problem: There is a danger of deletion of Sections 7 and 8 of ITPA in a hurry, as a response
to the problem of harassment and penalizing of adult women in prostitution by
the police.
Recommendation: The issue of deletion of Sections 7 and 8 of ITPA needs further debate
and discussion, as there is lack of consensus on the same. One view was that these Sections
lead to harassment and penalizing of women in prostitution by the police, while the other
view was that these Sections have proviso under which the woman, who has been prosecuted,
could be treated as a victim and rehabilitated with the help of corresponding Section 10-A of
ITPA. In addition, it was pointed out that under Section 7, customers could be booked and
prosecuted.
Problem: Concerted attempts are being made to bring a new legislation or amend the existing
law (s) to legalize prostitution by certain sections and lobbies in society.
Recommendation: Legalization of prostitution would be an anti-women and anti-rehabilitation
measure, leading to violation of human rights of the trafficked persons.
The following sections pertain to implementation gaps or problems in the law:
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