Noted jurist and former Attorney General of India Soli Sorabjee on Saturday remarked that human traffickers should be treated as murderers for ruining the lives of young girls by pushing them into ‘vicious cycle’ of flesh trade.
“Frankly I think these traffickers should be treated as murderers...The way they ruin the lives of young girls, and for what, for money. The whole thing is a big vicious cycle. We are dealing with very ugly, nasty people,” Mr. Sorabjee said.
He was speaking at the first Multiple Action Research Group (MARG) – Dr. Anand Prakash Memorial Lecture on ‘Victim of Human Trafficking and the Criminal Justice System’.
Rehabilitation work
Mr. Sorabjee also praised the work done by social activist Sunitha Krishnan, co-founder of Prajwala, an NGO that rescues, rehabilitates and reintegrates sex-trafficked victims into society.
Ms. Krishnan called for investing in changing the mindset of men and boys in terms of how they view a body of a child or a woman.
“If there is a three year old child sitting in a brothel, it also means that there is a man here who wants to buy that three year old child to have sex with her,” Ms. Krishnan said.
She has been working on the issue of sex trafficking and sex crime for over 25 years and has rescued around 21,000 women and children out of prostitution.
She said that not all those who get rescued are able to get back into mainstream society.
Official statistics
Ms. Krishnan said that 2-3 million people are trafficked in this country as per official statistics, out of which 45% are children.
She added that the criminal justice system kicks into action only after the crime is committed.
“If we do not invest in men and boys in terms of how they view a body of a child, a woman or a thing, the kind of work that I do is kind of scavenging job,” she said.
Mindset change
“Somebody is going on throwing the garbage and one of us is doing the cleaning. I think the police is also doing that we too are doing it,” she added.
“One of the multiple solutions that I would advocate is work with the society, work with people, and mostly with men and boys to change their mindset about a women’s body and a child body,” Ms. Krishnan said.
