INDIA: Varanasi police are indifferent to a child’s abduction and trafficking

Dear friends, 

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is calling for a legitimate investigation into the trafficking of a 14-year-old girl in Jaitpura, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. We have learned that local police officers initially refused to register the case of kidnapping and trafficking but that the Director General of Police did so after being contacted by a member of the AHRC; he has promised that a proper investigation will be conducted and that the perpetrators will be prosecuted. Nevertheless the AHRC is concerned due to past experience, in which obstacles have been created by the corruption of the local authorities. Successful investigations into child trafficking are a rarity in the area. 

CASE DETAILS: 

According to the information received from GURIA, a local human rights NGO, 14-year-old girl Maya (the name has been changed for the victim’s protection), has been missing since 22 November 2009. After having unsuccessfully looked for her for weeks without any help from the local authorities, her father came to hear that she had been sold by their former landlady, Rabiya Andewali, through members of a gang involved in child trafficking. He tried to register a case against her but says that the officers at Jaitpura Police Station refused to comply. 

Nevertheless, almost two months after the girl was first reported missing he was told that the police had recovered Maya in Mumbai and that she was staying in a children’s home. When he found her the girl was clearly frightened and in shock. Only after they returned to Varanasi did she explain that she had been deceived by a man promising to marry her then sold to a stranger and raped several times. 

According to the victim, on 22 November Rabiya Andewali and her four daughters, Jamila Khatoon, Bhakuri, Raushan, Soni, came to see her at home and tried to convince her to elope with a friend of theirs, Parwez (son of Maulvi, resident of Bakariyakund). The girl refused. One of Rabiya’s daughters then reportedly handed her over to Parwez, after which she was raped. 

According to Maya in a recent interview: “Parwez promised to marry me and took me to an orchard at Sarnath along with his friend Rocky. Even though I refused, he had physical relations with me, from which I had a lot of pain. This incident was recorded secretly by Rocky on his mobile”. Parwez then brought the girl to Mughalsarai railway station and handed Maya and Rocky’s cell phone to an unknown man. 

The man then took Maya to Mumbai, where a month later, on 26 December, she was sold: “After reaching Mumbai he took me to a hotel, the name and address of which I don’t know. After some time in the room, he started behaving vulgarly. When I protested, he showed me the film of my physical relation with Parwez on Rocky’s mobile phone and told me that he had bought me for Rs. 50,000 from Rabiya, Bhakuri, Jamila, Raushan, Soni, Parwez and Rocky and that if I refused to have physical relations with him he would show the film to everybody and kill me.” The man reportedly raped Maya several times. 

Maya explained that she managed to escape from the hotel on 28 December, after two days of this regime. She first contacted Parwez who threatened to ‘set all [her] family on fire’ if she tried to return home and was eventually picked up by the police and brought to the police station. However her ‘buyer’ was able to gain access to her there. “That same unknown person also reached the police station and threatened me that if I told anything to the police he would kill me and my whole family in Varanasi. He said that he would always keep an eye on me and threatened me into not telling anything to anybody. I was totally scared and after his departure I did not answer any of the police’s questions. Then the police dropped me at the children home. Even there, I did not say anything.” 

Thanks to the support of her family she has regained confidence, agreed to tell her story and decided to seek justice. Despite this testimony however the Jaitpura police station refused to file a case against the numerous persons involved in her kidnap, sale and rape. Alerted by GURIA, a staff member of the AHRC spoke with the Director General of Police concerned, who eventually agreed to file an F.I.R. He has promised the AHRC that a legitimate investigation will be conducted. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: 

From past experience the AHRC has doubts regarding the actions that will follow this verbal promise. The victim has already received very serious threats and if no serious investigation is undertaken, her safety cannot be guaranteed. She comes from a poor family and her father is illiterate, which makes it even more difficult for them to access the legal system and to persuade corrupted police officials to lodge their complaints. 

Cases of child trafficking are very frequent in Varanasi, where children from poor families are being abducted, sold to strangers and then forced into prostitution or slavery. Though parents regularly try to lodge complaints at the police station, police officers systematically refuse to register the cases. 

The AHRC has already reported several cases of corruption among Varanasi police officers. Last year the negligence of the local police led to the returning of a twelve-year-old girl to her kidnappers: see UAC-091-2009. In 2008 police refused to take any step to lodge the complaint of a 13-year-old girl who had been kidnapped, sold to a brothel, raped, forced into prostitution and tortured for more than two years: see UAC-212-2008. In another case the Jaitpura police station refused to file a case against those who had sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl: see UAC-209-2008. 

The UN has also documented various cases of child trafficking in Varanasi and has denounced the collusion between the legal authorities and those involved in the criminal network. In the September 2009 report of the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, several cases of child trafficking in Varanasi were reported; it acknowledged that well-known child traffickers have never been apprehended by the police, ‘allegedly due to the fact that prostitution in Varanasi is a business carried out with the blessings of the local police’. 

India is party to international conventions protecting children from human trafficking, forced labour and sexual exploitation. Its constitution strictly prohibits human trafficking. The Immoral Traffic Prevention Act of 1956 specifically condemns the traffic of women and girls on the purpose of sexual exploitation. Its penal code also contains provisions specifically condemning criminal activities such as kidnapping or abduction. (For more details see UAC-202-2008) Nevertheless because of rampant corruption of the police officers and the indifference of the state authorities those legal provisions have gone unheeded in Varanasi, resulting in a protection vacuum for children when it comes to kidnapping and prostitution.      

SUGGESTED ACTION: 

Please write to the authorities listed below urging them to make sure that this case is properly investigated and that the victim will be granted adequate compensation. Please also call for her protection. Join us in reminding the state authorities of their obligation to take appropriate measures to protect their citizens from human trafficking. 

Please be informed that the AHRC has written separate letters to the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography requesting an intervention in this case. 

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