Many activists working against trafficking had expressed serious shock over what they called "undesirable changes" in the anti-trafficking laws.
Following a dna report on the outrage over the Anti-Trafficking Bill (3rd draft) released by the Union Ministry of Women & Child Development (MWCD), the ministry has withdrawn the draft and put out a new one. A copy of this new 4th draft, sent to all draft panel members will be discussed in a meeting on October 14th. The 3rd draft, readers will recall had done away with provisions of the current law ITPA Sec 8(b), against soliciting in public places, by removing brothel keeping, detaining anyone (eg. withholding passport, work permit, other documents, payments, savings, jewellery, child or clothes) and pimping from the purview of crime. Many working against trafficking had expressed serious shock over what they called "undesirable changes" in anti-trafficking laws.
While repeated attempts to reach the Union MWCD minister Maneka Gandhi led to a blank, officials in her ministry admitted the ministry had faced opposition over all the three drafts of the Bill till now.
"Given the contentious issues red flagged by stakeholders, the 3rd draft stands withdrawn," confirmed a senior bureaucrat in the ministry. He also confirmed, "The ministry has dropped the idea of repealing the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act and also dropped the idea of shifting Sections 370 (buying or disposing of any person as a slave) & 370A (sexually exploiting a trafficked person) from the IPC to the new law."
Expressing happiness over what he called a remarkable victory, director of Anti Trafficking NGO -- Prerana, Dr Pravin Patkar said: " The 3rd draft had shifted the definition of trafficking from its existing place in Sec 370 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) after distortion, making it ineffective. I'm glad the ministry has decided to stop this." He further added, "According to that draft, pimps would be able to solicit anywhere in public and offer a prostitute's services to anyone. Worryingly it would've no longer been a crime to carry out prostitution around schools, residential buildings, colleges, hospitals and even places of worship!"
Since 2005 the Centre has been intermittently releasing drafts of amendment in the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act (ITPA)-1956 which is limited to sex trafficking. In November 2015 the Narendra Modi-government decided to create a national level panel to come up with comprehensive legislation on trafficking. The panel which was to submit its report in six months from the date of its constitution (May 2016) was expected to study the various acts/legislations under the purview of different ministries/departments relating to various aspects of trafficking, consider gaps in the existing legislation, from the point of view of prevention, pre-rescue, rescue, post-rescue and rehabilitation aspects, strengthen victim protection protocol so as to ensure victims are treated as victims not as offenders, draft a comprehensive legislative framework covering all aspects of trafficking, as may be considered necessary, provide for adequate shelter homes for the rescued victims and prepare a comprehensive policy for law enforcing agencies, including for lady police officers to handle the victims of trafficking.
On the committee were secretaries (or representative not below rank of Jt. Secy) of Ministry of Home Affairs, MCWD, Min. of Labour & Employment, Min. of External Affairs, Min. of Overseas Indian Affairs, Min. of Health & Family Welfare and the Directorate of Legal Affairs, member-secretary, National Commission for Women, member-secretary, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, principal secretary/secretary of department of WCD/Social Welfare from the states of West Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and Odisha. The panel also included a representative from the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), Ravi Kant of Shakti Vahini (New Delhi), Sunita Krishnan of Prajwala (Andhra Pradesh), Ajit Singh of Gudia Sansthan (Varanasi-UP), Roop Sen of Sanjog (Kolkata) and Chair-Professor, TISS, Mumbai Dr PM Nair.
WHAT PANEL MEMBERS SAY:
Roop Sen, Sanjog (Kolkata):
I don't see the withdrawal as nullification of the panel's efforts. All such legislation will go through many revisions and much rethink. This doesn't mean the work that had already gone in was wasted or wrong.
Sunita Krishnan, Prajwala (Andhra Pradesh):
The repeated withdrawals and re-drafts were because we were unhappy with what the drafts read like. Despite repeatedly trying to make the voices of NGOs working in the area heard, the final drafts never reflected that. This is what we've been protesting. The 4th draft too doesn't address our concerns. Our demand for a National Bureau on Trafficking and the status of Minister of State for its administrative head have not been met. So what if this is used to rehabilitate retired IAS/IPS officers friendly to the government? At least we'll have someone accountable.
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