Traffickers exploiting social media to lure girls from J'khand

New Delhi: For girls in Jharkhand who are brought to Delhi on the pretext of employment, there is often no way out.

In two recent cases in outer Delhi, one girl was killed while another was assaulted by her captors. Both these girls wished to return to their native Jharkhand, having gone unspeakable horrors in Delhi.

The Jharkhand State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (JSCPCR) claims it has seen that girls from the state are lured into coming to Delhi not just by agents or touts, but even through social media websites.

In the case of the Jharkhand girl who was rescued from Delhi's Nihal Vihar, police said that she had been working as a maid and after her contract was over she asked her agents to allow her to return home. However, they assaulted her and held her captive.

In the second case, reported in Nangloi, the girl was murdered when she asked for her salary – which had been forcefully kept by the accused agents – as she wanted to go back home to Jharkhand.

Aarti Kujur, chairpersonJSCPCR, said, "The person who bring a girl to Delhi is often acquainted to her, like a relative who first took the girl from the village on the pretext of fairs in other districts after roaming around for few days in Jharkhand."

She added that human traffickers are increasingly using social media applications and website to lure girls.

"We have noticed the trend and asked the concerned security department in different districts to keep a tab on such cases and send the report to child rights bodies," she added.

Explaining the modus operandi of traffickers, Rishikant, from NGO Shaktivahini, stated that traffickers target a particular girl by first befriending one of her female friends on social media. They follow this by then sending a friend request to the prospective victim.

Seeing that the man who has sent her a friend request has a mutual friend, the victim accepts his friend request.

"The accused then talks to the girl, posing as a rich person, and lies to her about a good life in Delhi. After talking to the prospective victim for several days or months, the trafficker finally succeeds in luring her to Delhi and places her as a maid," said Rishikant.

To spread awareness about the techniques used by traffickers to lure unsuspecting young girls, JSCPCR officials often meet residents in many villages.