EASTERN INDIA BECOMING HOTSPOT WOMEN TRAFFICKHER: STUDY

Kolkata, June 23 (PTI) Eastern India including the North
Eastern states are becoming a hotspot for women traffickers
like never before, warns a study.

The study conducted by National Human Rights Commission
(N.H.R.C.) suggests that trafficking of women and children
from the North-Eastern states has assumed a serious dimension.

In the North-East, areas near Pangsau Pass in Arunachal
Pradesh, Dimapur in Nagaland and Moreh in Manipur are the
major transit and demand centres.

"Women and children from Assam and Bangladesh are
trafficked to Moreh in Manipur and sent to Myanmar and other
South East Asian countries through the Golden Triangle," the
report said.

Women and children from Jorhat in Assam, Mokokchung and
Tuensang in Nagaland and Bangladesh are sent through Pangsau
Pass to Myanmar and then to Bangkok, it added.

The report attributed "insurgency, ethnic clashes and
community conflicts" to be the main reason behind the
vulnerability of women and children in northeast.

Apart from the northeastern region, the traffickers also
target tribal girls from Orissa, Jharkhand and from the
minority communities in Bihar and West Bengal.

"Girls from poor families are lured away with false
promise of jobs, but they mostly end up in brothels of
Kolkata, Mumbai or as domestic help in Noida or Delhi,"
Member, National Commission for Women, Malini Bhattacharya
said.

"Apart from being forced to work in brothels, many are
sold off as bonded labourers to farm owners in Punjab and
Haryana," she added.