Human Trafficking

The newly enacted Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which replaces the British-era Indian Penal Code, has made sexual offences "gender neutral" for the victim and the perpetrator, according to official documents. "Both boys and girls could get procured for sexual exploitation. The word 'minor girl' in section 366A of the IPC has been replaced with the word 'child' in clause 96 of the BNS to cover both male and female children below the age of 18 years and the offence of procurement has been made punishable," an explanatory note for the new criminal law said. It said Section 366B in the IPC has been made gender neutral by replacing the phrase "importation of girl from a foreign country" with "importation of girl or boy from a foreign country". It has been introduced as clause 141 in the BNS to cover the offence of importing into India any girl under the age of 21 years or any boy under the age of 18 years with the intent that such person will be forced or seduced to illicit sexual acts with .

The complainants in the case withdrew their allegations, stating in court that they had been misled into signing statements they did not even understand

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday informed the state assembly that the state police was investigating complaints alleging that organ trafficking was taking place in the state and several arrests have been made in this connection. Replying to a question on organ trafficking, Vijayan said three people were arrested so far in connection with a case registered at Nedumbassery in Ernakulam district. "One complaint was lodged by a Malappuram resident alleging that two private hospitals in Ernakulam have links to international organ trading mafia. The second complaint is regarding illegal organ transplantation from Thiruvananthapuram," he said. In the Nedumbassery case, he said three people were arrested and the process has been initiated to issue a Blue Corner notice through Interpol for prime accused Madhu Jayakumar, who is absconding. A 13-member police team is probing the matter. Meanwhile, the police is probing into the illegal organ transplantation from ...

The trial got underway on Monday after four members of the Hinduja family were indicted last year by Geneva prosecutors for alleged human trafficking and mistreatment of their domestic staff

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday arrested a wanted accused involved in trafficking of Bangladeshi nationals and Rohingyas into India through the north-eastern borders. Jalil Miah, a resident of the north-eastern state of Tripura, has been arrested by the NIA team, an official statement said. The NIA had in February declared a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh for information leading to the arrest of Jalil, who was absconding in the case, in addition to nine others. As per the NIA investigations, a large number of Bangladeshi nationals and Rohingyas are being trafficked to India every month through the porous stretches of the Indo-Bangladesh border. They are further transported to different parts of the country and provided fake documents and forced into labour, said the statement issued by the probe agency. "In yet another success in its fight against human traffickers operating across the country, the NIA on Tuesday arrested a key conspirator in a case relating to ...

Two men filed complaints with the Gurugram police claiming that Kataria, a social media influencer, had defrauded them of over Rs 4 lakh under the pretext of providing them jobs abroad

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday conducted multi-state raids and arrested five persons allegedly involved in international human trafficking and cyber fraud syndicate. The accused were luring Indian youths to foreign countries on false promises of employment, an official statement said. The youths were being forced to work in fake call centres at Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Laos and Cambodia, among other places, as part of the racket, controlled and operated mainly by foreign nationals, it said. They were coerced into undertaking illegal activities online, such as credit card fraud, investments in cryptocurrency using fake applications, honey trapping, etc., the probe agency said. Manish Hingu of Vadodara, Pahlad Singh of Gopalganj, Nabialam Ray of southwest Delhi, Balwant Kataria of Gurugram and Sartaj Singh of Chandigarh were arrested following a crackdown at 15 locations in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and .

Andhra Pradesh police reported on Tuesday that approximately 300 'trafficked' Indians staged a 'revolt' against their handlers in Cambodia on May 20, resulting in many arrests there

In the wake of a human trafficking racket busted here recently, Andhra Pradesh police on Tuesday said around 300 Indians 'revolted' against their handlers in Cambodia on May 20, leading to most of them being arrested in the foreign country. As many as 150 youth from the port city and its vicinity have been stuck in Cambodia for a year already, where they are being coerced to carry out cyber crime and ponzi scams by Chinese handlers, police said. Visakhapatnam Police Commissioner A Ravi Shankar noted that these trafficked Indians caused large scale riots in Jinbei and Compound, Sihanoukvile in Cambodia, which is allegedly a hub for cyber crime. "Many people called up Visakha city police whatsapp numbers and sent videos. Yesterday (Monday), around 300 Indians 'revolted' in a large scale against their handlers in Cambodia," said Shankar in a release. On May 18, Vizag police arrested Chukka Rajesh, S Kondala Rao and M Jnaneshwar Rao on human trafficking charges for luring youth from In

The external affairs ministry on Thursday cautioned Indian nationals against falling prey to human traffickers promising lucrative job opportunities in Cambodia. In an advisory, the ministry called upon Indians looking at job opportunities in the Southeast Asian country to thoroughly check the background of the prospective employer. "It has come to attention that Indian nationals, lured by fake promises of lucrative job opportunities in Cambodia, are falling into the trap of human traffickers," it said. The ministry said these Indian nationals are "coerced" to undertake online financial scams and other illegal activities. "Indian nationals intending to visit Cambodia for employment are cautioned to do so only through authorised agents. It is also advised that the background of the prospective employer in Cambodia is checked thoroughly," it said. "In the meantime, the ministry of external affairs, through our mission in Phnom Penh, is working closely with the Cambodian authorities

In our current world where each individual deserves a life of prosperity, independence from fear, and a quest for joy, the dark truth of human trafficking frequently breaks these beliefs

The case pertains to 303 passengers from India, mostly belonging to Punjab and Gujrat in Nicaragua-bound flight, who were detained by French authorities last week

Twenty-five Indian passengers who had stayed behind seeking asylum in France after their flight from the UAE was grounded last week over suspicion of human trafficking before being allowed to take off for India have now been freed, according to local French media reports on Wednesday. These 25 passengers were not on the flight carrying 276 mostly Indian passengers which took off for Mumbai on Monday afternoon after four days of being held at Chlons-Vatry airport near Paris. The 'Le Monde' newspaper quoted prosecutors to say that the local judge had ordered their release on formal grounds, considering that the head of the border police at France's main Charles De Gaulle airport "had not referred the case to him" within the timeframe stipulated by law. "They are therefore free to do as they please, even if they are in an irregular situation on French territory," the Bobigny public prosecutor's office told the French newspaper. The 25 passengers, who had applied for political asylum i

A charter plane carrying 276 passengers, mostly Indians, which was grounded in France for four days over suspected human trafficking, landed in Mumbai on Tuesday, an official said. The Nicaragua-bound flight operated by a Romanian company was detained for four days at Vatry airport near France. The aircraft, an Airbus A340, landed in Mumbai shortly after 4 am, the official said. It had taken off from Vatry airport around 2.30 pm local time. The charter flight that carried 303 passengers had taken off from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and was grounded at the Vatry airport, 150 km east of Paris, on Thursday over suspected human trafficking. According to French authorities, the plane had 276 passengers on board when it took off for Mumbai, and 25 persons, including two minors, had expressed the wish to apply for asylum and were still on French soil. Two others, who were brought before a judge, were released and placed on assisted witness status, a French news channel said.

Four French judges on Sunday began questioning the 303 passengers, mostly Indians, of a Nicaragua-bound flight detained by French authorities at Vatry airport, 150 km east of Paris, since Thursday over suspected "human trafficking", according to local media reports. "The judges have the authority to extend the detention order being used by border police by eight days initially and for another eight if required. They have two days to complete speaking to the passengers. The judges are being helped by translators, said a report in Le Monde' newspaper. According to the French media, some of the passengers spoke Hindi and others Tamil and are believed to have contacted their families by telephone. Ten of the passengers have requested asylum, the newspaper quoted a source close to the case as saying. The plane includes 11 unaccompanied minors and two passengers in custody since Friday had their detention extended on Saturday evening for up to 48 hours, according to French prosecutors. T

French authorities grounded a flight from the United Arab Emirates to Nicaragua carrying 303 Indian passengers after receiving a tip that it could be carrying victims of human trafficking, prosecutors said on Friday. Special investigators are questioning all those aboard and two people are in custody pending further examination, the Paris prosecutor's office said in a statement. It said an anonymous tip signalled that the flight, operated by Romania-based charter company Legend Airlines, was carrying people who could be victims of human trafficking. It was grounded Thursday after it stopped for refuelling in the city of Vatry east of Paris. The passengers initially remained in the A340 plane but were then transferred into the main hall of the small Vatry airport, where cots were set up for them to stay overnight, the administration for the Marne region said. Investigators from a specialised French organised crime unit, border police and aviation gendarmes are working on the ...

China is ramping up a crackdown on online scams operated by criminal syndicates in border areas of military-ruled Myanmar in an effort that has included a shootout, confession videos and national TV broadcasts of arrests of high-profile suspects. But the drive has been confined to a limited area and appears unlikely to root out the kingpins behind the human trafficking and other illicit activities aimed at cheating people of their savings via phone calls and online overtures, schemes that are thought to generate tens of billions of dollars in revenue a year. Over the summer, China announced a series of joint operations with neighbouring countries that led to thousands of people being returned to China, many of whom had been lured by the promise of high-paying jobs. Experts say many are victims who were forced into conducting the scams. Those campaigns did not include arrests of ring leaders in Myanmar. As soon as we discover them, we hand them over, said Lu Jiantang, the vice-chair

The Gujarat police have arrested more than 100 people after raiding 805 spas, massage parlours, and hotels as part of a state-wide drive against flesh trade, the government said in a release on Friday. The mega crackdown was carried out on Thursday, a day after Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi directed police officials to raid all premises that were suspected of running flesh trade in the guise of legal business. During his interaction with senior police officers via video conferencing, Sanghavi expressed the Gujarat government's resolve to eradicate the flesh trade being run at hotels and in the guise of spa centres, said the release. Accordingly, the police raided 851 locations across the state on Thursday and arrested 105 persons involved in illegal activities, said the release, adding 103 FIRs (first information reports) have been registered. The police have initiated a process to cancel the licences of 27 spa centres and hotels for being involved in illegal ..

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Human trafficking is more dangerous than murder, and social awareness coupled with a strong legal framework was needed to curb it, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Tuesday. Fadnavis, who also holds the Home portfolio, was speaking virtually at a panel discussion on 'Prevention of commercial sex trafficking of women', organised jointly by the Maharashtra State Women Commission and 'Alliance against Centres for Trafficking' here. "Human trafficking is a very big challenge before us. It is said that drugs trade is the biggest trade in the world but unfortunately human trafficking is to some extent, along with drugs trade, becoming a big trade. Women and children are most vulnerable to it," he said. Its victims suffer a lot, and it is a far more dangerous crime than murder, the deputy CM added. Human trafficking is an issue transcending boundaries, and social awareness and a people's movement along with a strong legal framework were needed to curb it, he ...