A 13-year-old girl, who was allegedly trafficked to Delhi from West Bengal on the pretext of job and forced into prostitution, has been reunited with her family.
The girl's mother has reached Delhi to accompany her back to her village in Nadia.
According to a DCW official, the girl was allegedly brought to Delhi, three months back on the pretext of providing her a job in an embroidery factory, and then forced into prostitution.
On November 9, she was lost at a metro station in the process of being transported to a client and was subsequently rescued by Faridabad police and presented before the local Child Welfare Committee. From there, she was taken to a shelter home.
The DCW Chairperson, Swati Maliwal got to know about the girl from Shaktivahini, an NGO devoted to rescuing victims of human trafficking, and immediately constituted a team comprising members of DCW and and representatives from Shaktivahini to aid the transfer of girl to Delhi jurisdiction so that charges could be filed.
"The team was shocked to find that the CWC had not performed an MLC or filed an FIR for over 20 days despite the girl willing to cooperate and provide them the details of trafficking racket," said a senior DCW official.
"A team comprising of DCW members, Shaktivahini and Delhi Police was constituted and raids were carried out in the places mentioned by the victim.
"Unfortunately, as a result of the delayed response of Faridabad CWC, traffickers had received a tip-off about the raid and had cleared all evidences as a result of which, nothing was found. However, Delhi Police is pursuing the case," said the official, adding that a case has been registered in New Usmanpur police station and the victim reunited with her family on December 4.
"It is disappointing to note that although there is a special police unit devoted to anti-trafficking, the groundwork, tip-offs and fact-finding are done by NGOs, which have far lesser personnel and technology," Maliwal said.
Clearly, the police must step-up its efforts to ensure that such children are not abused in the manner that this girl was, she said.
