Annual Report - National Human Rights Commission

Annexure 10
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
○
Phase II: Rescue
Problem: Unplanned raids/rescue operations often result in logistic problems at the ground
level with regard to accommodation, recovery of personal belongings or money, rescue of
children, food, health problems, vocational training, repatriation, etc. defeating the entire objective
of rehabilitation.
Recommendations: The police should plan rescue operations in coordination with the institutional
authorities, in a humanistic and rehabilitation-oriented approach
with the rescued women and children. The proposed Inter-Departmental Coordination structure
suggested in Point No.3 under the head ‘Prevention’ should be used for this purpose.
Problem: Adult women in prostitution are often treated as offenders (arrested and fined/
imprisoned) by the police and the judiciary and not as victims. Also, women trafficked from
across the borders/foreign countries are booked by the police under the Passports Act and the
Foreigners Act and then prosecuted as illegal immigrants.
Recommendations: The policy of the State of penalizing the adult woman in prostitution (e.g.
Section 110 of Bombay Police Act, or Section 145(b) of Indian Railway Act, Section 294 of
IPC) should be stopped. A procedure may be set up whereby victims of cross-border and transnational
trafficking are given assistance, with the help of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the
Embassy concerned, to repatriate them in a humane and prompt manner. All women in prostitution
should be presumed to be victims in need of assistance to get out of prostitution, as is the case
with minors.
Problem: Rescue operations and raids on premises where organized prostitution is carried on, is
carried out in an ad-hoc manner and not as a part of mainstream policing. Quite often, the
priority given to this work depends on the personal interest of the officer on the job. The focus of
raids with the objective of rescuing girls and women from prostitution primarily happens in big
cities and that too is limited to red-light areas. Rehabilitative and anti-trafficking sections of the
law and acts thus do not get properly implemented. For example, in small towns and semi-urban
areas, the focus of raids continues to be penalizing the women under sections, such as, 110 of
BP Act and hardly anyone is seen as in need of rescue and rehabilitation. Also, when raids are
conducted in lodges, massage parlours, etc., they are termed as ‘busting of rackets’ and the
women found in these premises are arrested for soliciting or indecent exposure.
Recommendations: A specialized anti-trafficking structure within the police at the Central,
State, district and taluka levels should be established in order to deal with the issue of trafficking
(including cross-border and inter-State), rescue, recovery of personal belongings, repatriation,
etc., along the lines of structures set up within the police to deal with trafficking of drugs, smuggling
of antiques, wild life poaching, etc.
262
National Human Rights Commission Annual Report - 2004-2005
AR-Chapter-1-19-10-6-06.p65
282
7/17/06, 6:31 PM