Human trafficking victim will not go to jail, says draft Bill

Human Trafficking victims would not be sent to jail, according to the first draft Bill of trafficking, which was released by Union Minister Maneka Gandhi on Monday.

“At present, the law says the trafficked and the trafficker are both criminals and they both go to jail. Now, we are saying the victim will not go to jail. We will find different ways to reform her life,” the minister said, after releasing the draft Bill on Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation).

She said decriminalisation of prostitution was a “grey area” which needed to be further discussed.

The provision has been made in view of treating “victims as victims and not offenders”, irrespective of the trade they are trafficked for, including sexual exploitation, which is currently punishable under Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956.

“There is a grey area and we are going to work on it. Let the draft go through everyone. Let everybody give their suggestions to this draft to see that those grey areas become less grey. For instance, suppose a girl has been in prostitution for 15 years. Is she still a victim or she is just a part of a trade. In which case does ITPA apply to her or we do. That also has to be thought about,” Gandhi said.

She said the draft Bill would be on the ministry’s website for a month for public consultation and inviting suggestions from NGOs and stakeholders. “This will be on our website for a month. During that period everybody is welcome to give suggestions and ask questions,” she said.

The major provisions of the "victim oriented" bill include prohibition on disclosure of identity of the victim of trafficking and witness, penal provision for the use of narcotic drug or psychotropic substance or alcohol for the purpose of trafficking, use of chemical substance or hormones for exploitation and institution mechanism.