GUWAHATI, Jan 10 � Assam Police�s anti-trafficking unit has sounded an alert against human trafficking attempts in the violence-affected districts of Sonitpur and Kokrajhar, besides other affected areas where large-scale displacement has taken place.
The local police stations have also been directed to investigate the fresh missing cases on a priority basis, especially from the trafficking angle. Records show that young boys and girls from the Adivasi community have emerged as the most vulnerable to human trafficking rackets over the years.
A senior Assam Police official said local leaders and village heads would be asked to report any missing instance in their locality post-violence as there is a disinclination on the part of the people of remote areas to lodge missing reports.
Violet Baruah, Superintendent of Police, anti-trafficking unit of the CID, confirmed an alert has been sounded in the affected districts and vigil in the transit routes has been intensified.
Baruah said the police have been asked to prioritize their drive against traffickers who could take advantage of the situation. �There have been instances of such attempts made by well-oiled rackets of human trafficking in the past too. It was important to intensify the vigil,� she said.
Meanwhile, three young girls from Kokrajhar who went missing a day after violence broke out, were rescued from a dense forest in Chirang district. The girls were Marsila Hemron, Meena Tudu and Sumela Hemron.
One of them had sustained serious injuries and has been admitted to Gossaigaon Hospital. These girls were among those rescued from north India from the clutches of traffickers in 2013.
A team of Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi�s NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) spearheaded the rescue act and even facilitated their reunion with their parents back home in a remote village of Kokrajhar in 2013.
Rakesh Senger of BBA while talking to The Assam Tribune voiced his concern over the missing girls and asserted that the local administration would do well to keep a strict vigil in the relief camps where traffickers operate.
�This is the time when young girls fall prey to traffickers, who mostly are from the same community. They mostly target those who had lost their near and dear ones. We have seen this across the country and Assam is no different,� Senger said.
Regarded as hubs of human trafficking in Assam, districts like Sonitpur and Kokrajhar specially have reported displacement of thousands of young children and women post violence, a situation that had traditionally suited the unscrupulous elements to effect large-scale trafficking of distressed and panic-stricken young boys and girls.
