SHILLONG, Sep 28: Chairperson of the National Commission for Women (NCW) Rekha Sharma on Wednesday expressed concern over the growing trend of young girls from the Northeastern states being lured to big cities with fake promises of jobs and then being pushed into the flesh trade.
Speaking at a regional level consultation on ‘Combating Human Trafficking in NER’ organised in collaboration with the Meghalaya State Commission for Women (MSCW), Sharma said girls from the Northeast were being lured to New Delhi, Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra with false promises of lucrative jobs.
However, many of these girls end up working in parlours and other shady places and are often pushed into the flesh trade, she observed.
Sharma asked the women’s commission of these states to collaborate with their counterparts in the Northeast to end human trafficking.
“Some of these traffickers have good networking skills and are digitally well connected. To outsmart these traffickers, steps need to be taken together with all the stakeholders involved in this fight against human trafficking,” the NCW chief asserted.
Sharma said police personnel are usually not sensitised about human trafficking which needs to be addressed.
She also suggested that school and college students should also be sensitised on this pertinent issue and advised the formation of students’ groups to alert police about possible leads in such cases.