Child trafficking in India

Child trafficking, according to UNICEF is defined as “any person under 18 who is recruited, transported, transferred, harboured or received for the purpose of exploitation, either within or outside a country”. There have been many cases where children just disappear overnight, as many as one every eight minutes, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. Children are taken from their homes to be bought and sold in the market. In India, there is a large number of children trafficked for various reasons such as labour, begging, and sexual exploitation. Because of the nature of this crime; it is hard to track; therefore making it impossible to have exact figures regarding this issue. India is a prime area for child trafficking to occur, as many of those trafficked are from, travel through or destined to go to India. Though most of the trafficking occurs within the country, there is also a significant number of children trafficked from Nepal and Bangladesh. Filmmaker Manish Harishankar has taken the subject of Child trafficking in India in his film Chaarfutiya Chhokare Produced by Sunill Khosla & Vibha Dutta Khosla, intensively and shown this problem, nexus, modus operandi and repercussions. Recently Pradeep Sarkar's Mardaani also raised strong voice against child sex trafficking in India. Rani Mukherjee was widely appreciated for her portrayal of an officer who rescues many such trapped girls.

There are many contributing factors to child trafficking, which include economic deprivation, conditions, lack of employment opportunities, social status, and political uprisings. Many of the families in India are unable to afford the basic necessities of life, which forces the parents to sell their children off to gangs, and the gangs to exploit them. Having approximately half of those in India living under the poverty line, this results in desperate measures being taken to make any money they can. As there aren’t even decent employment opportunities available, parents will do anything from sweeping the streets to selling their kids, even if it only makes them a few rupees. The fact is that children are more vulnerable than adults, making them an easier target and a commodity for gangs. They are looked upon as more expendable than the rest of the population which makes them available as objects to be sold. Another cause of sexual exploitation is that people around the world find pleasure in the outcomes of this abuse, therefore causing a demand for it. Political uprisings lead to a demand for soldiers, and as children are more vulnerable, they are forced to conscript and use their bodies as sacrifices.

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