Mumbai: Maharashtra has topped the list of states in human trafficking as it reported 388 cases in 2023 with the authorities rescuing a total of 955 victims, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data showed.
The state has witnessed a rise in the number of human trafficking cases over the past few years.
It reported 295 cases of human trafficking in 2022, while the figure was bigger than that in 2021 at 320.
In 2023, the state occupied the first position under this head and was followed by Telangana with 336 cases and Odisha with 162 cases.
Following their investigation, the police filed chargesheets in 100 per cent of the human trafficking cases in 2023. Among the victims who were trafficked in 2023, a total of 79 males and 60 females were below 18 years of age, whereas 17 males and 779 females were above that age threshold, as per the data mentioned in the report.
The police had rescued 76 males and 63 females, who were minor and 816 females, who were major in 2023.
A total of 955 victims were rescued by the law enforcement authorities, including 907 Indians, 4 Nepalese, 23 Bangladeshi nationals and 21 others that year.
During the probe in these human trafficking cases, it was found that three persons were trafficked for forced labour and 852 women for prostitution and sexual exploitation and 94 for other reasons, it said.
Maharashtra was also at the top spot, where the crime of human trafficking was committed for sexual exploitation, whereas
Telangana secured the second spot with 597 cases and Bihar was at the third position with 155 cases.
A total of 4,619 children went missing in 2023, including 2,347 girls, while 2,574 children were traced that year.
The number of missing persons in the state
who remained untraced till 2022 stood at 45,696, as per the data.
As many as 1,22,248 persons were missing till 2023, while 71,079
were traced that year, including 30,332 males and 40,743 females. A total of 51,169 persons remained untraced that year, it added.