Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

India cabinet approves first anti-human trafficking bill

INDIA'S cabinet on Wednesday (28) approved the country's first anti-human trafficking bill, increasing penalties for perpetrators and focusing on helping them recover from their ordeal, in a bid to battle the growing scourge.

Traffickers abduct or lure women and children, mostly from remote villages, with false promises of jobs before selling them off to brothels, factories or gangs which force them into begging.


Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi said the new bill made a clear distinction between the trafficker and the trafficked, unlike in earlier cases, when victims were themselves at risk of being thrown in jail, as for example after police raids on brothels.

"Before it used to be that you lock up the woman who herself is a victim ... then only when the case is finished, which may be 10 years later, then you attempt to rehabilitate her but by then it's too late," Gandhi said at a press conference in New Delhi.

"So, here, she will be rehabilitated."

Nobel laureate and child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi hailed the bill as a "historic achievement" and urged parliament to pass it in its next session.

"This bill will help India become a leader in the fight against trafficking by eradicating this modern day slavery," the 64-year-old tweeted.

Human trafficking in India increased by nearly 20 percent in 2016 compared to the previous year, latest government data shows.

About 14,000 children were victims of rape and sexual harassment in 2015, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.

But those figures may only be the tip of the iceberg, with experts saying the government underestimates the numbers in a country where a shroud of silence surrounds such crimes.

The new bill provides for special courts to expedite trafficking cases, time-bound repatriation of victims and a fund to help rebuild their lives including for education, legal aid, physical and mental support.

It also raises the minimum punishment from a seven-year sentence to a decade in prison.

India's elite National Investigation Agency, a federal police unit that investigates terror offences, will double as the Anti-Trafficking Bureau once the bill is cleared by parliament.

Gandhi said the bill could be brought before parliament when it sits again on March 5.

© AFP

More For You

Liz Kendall

Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall will outline welfare reforms in a green paper next week, followed by chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement on 26 March.

Ministers may drop plan to freeze disability benefits: Report

MINISTERS are considering dropping plans to freeze Personal Independence Payments (PIP) for a year, according to a report.

Initial proposals suggested PIP would not rise in line with inflation, but strong opposition from Labour MPs has prompted a review.

Keep ReadingShow less
BBC settles age and sex discrimination case
BBC headquarters in Central London.
Getty Images

BBC settles age and sex discrimination case

THE BBC on Friday (14) said it had settled a case with four female journalists who claimed they lost their jobs because of their sex and age.

Martine Croxall, Annita McVeigh, Karin Giannone and Kasia Madera, who have all presented on the BBC's television channels, claimed they lost their jobs following a "rigged" recruitment exercise.

Keep ReadingShow less
Indian student in US self-deports after visa revocation

In this screenshot from a video posted by @Sec_Noem via X on March 14, 2025, Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian citizen who participated in pro-Palestinian protests at United State’s Columbia University, leaves the country after her visa was revoked by the Department of State. (@Sec_Noem via PTI Photo)

Indian student in US self-deports after visa revocation

AN INDIAN student at Columbia University, whose visa was revoked for allegedly supporting Hamas, has self-deported, says the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian citizen, came to the US on an F-1 student visa as a doctoral student in Urban Planning at Columbia University, and her visa was revoked on March 5.

Keep ReadingShow less
'Companies with diverse leadership are better positioned for growth'

From LtoR- Lord Karan Bilimoria, Sir Trevor Phillips, Seema Malhotra MP, David Tyler and Nathan Coe

'Companies with diverse leadership are better positioned for growth'

COMPANIES with diverse leadership are better positioned for sustainable growth, improved decision-making, and will connect better with multicultural markets, equalities minister Seema Malhotra has said.

She added that the government will soon launch a public consultation on their approach to mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting.

Keep ReadingShow less
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar with  Wang Yi (right)

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar with Wang Yi (right)

S Jaishankar: ‘Delhi’s global interests shape its regional ties'

INDIA today sees itself as a global power or, at least, a country with global interests, which is why Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has spoken of its equation with Russia, China and notably the Middle East.

India’s external affairs minister was in conversation last Wednesday (5) in London with Bronwen Maddox, director of the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House.

Keep ReadingShow less