Team Herald
PANJIM: NGOs, academicians and organisations working for social justice have flayed the State Government and the police for reducing their guard against human trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation.
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The meeting raised questions on how the statistics in the past were in the hundreds per year, and have gone down to just 19 females being rescued from being trafficked. ARZ (Anyay Rahit Zindagi), an NGO held a meeting to discuss findings and recommendations reported in a study.
The study was titled “Human Trafficking in Vulnerable Districts of Goa.” The report was prepared by Tata Institute of Social Sciences and released by MWCD, GoI on the situation of sex trafficking in Goa in 2022, intervention & challenges.
Convenor of ARZ Arun Pandey asked, “Is the State taking sex trafficking seriously?”
“Statistics revealed how police have failed to accord priority to sex trafficking when compared to murders and other crimes,” he said.
“Vulnerability of girls has increased. Girls in the age group of 18 to 25 years, who worked in small cities at malls and other establishments, have lost jobs and are being lured into commercial sexual exploitation. It won’t take more than a year for this system to develop a strong base,” Pandey warned.
“Trafficking is happening in the name of jobs, dance bar jobs and massage parlours. Flats and residential areas are being used for this purpose,” Pandey said.
“The major challenge as far as Goa is facing is that the commercial sexual trafficking is now online. The reach of pimps and clients has increased. It has become very difficult to curb this. 60 per cent cases that were reported were executed online. We don’t have trained staff to manage online commercial activities and our laws are not supportive for action against online commercial sexual activities. Hence, there is a need for a proper legislation to take action against such activities,” he said.
Sabina Martins of Bailancho Saad said “Police are not taking action. The Director General of Police (DGP) Jaspal Singh said he will hold a meeting but no meeting has been called so far.”
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Most dance bars across Goa have become a pickup point for girls: ARZ
The “dance bar” phenomenon is dangerous, which is speedily being adopted in Goa, said Arun Pandey of ARZ, an NGO and claimed that most bars across Goa, where dancing is taking place, have become a pickup point for girls.
Claiming that pole dance and other dance forms are happening openly, he said that sealing the bar is not a solution, but the authorities should withdraw the NOC issued to the bar.
Pandey questioned, “What are the Excise Department, District Administration and Panchayats doing?”
“The disease of commercial sexual exploitation is spreading fast, we need to stop before it spreads to uncontrollable levels,” he demanded.
