Bhubaneswar: The tribulation of endless poor people who came from the unemployed and economic decline induced by Covid had forced many people to become human prey.
According to the National Crime Records (NCRB) 2020 data, Odisha reported the number of highest human trafficking cases intended for forced labor in this country.
While at all 741 people traded from the state to the district and other states in 2020, at least 653 of them traded for forced labor.
Jharkhand stood in second place with 193 people traded last year.
The police registered 103 cases of human trafficking in Odisha last year.
“We found that other purposes such as sexual exploitation, forced marriages, begging and peddling drugs for human trafficking in Odisha are nominal.
Human trafficking exploits many innocent people in the midst of losing work and livelihoods after last year’s pandemic,” said a police officer senior.
Police arrested 189 human traders in the state in 2020.
Around 764 victims traded rescued from the state and outside last year.
Police said almost all victims were traded for labor in the kiln brick and factories in other countries.
In the case of children, they traded to Delhi and other major cities to be employed as domestic assistance.
Furthermore, many children are sexually harassed, police said.
After the Covid outbreak, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has suggested all countries to remain vigilant and examine human trafficking during the crisis.
MHA asks countries to strengthen intelligence and supervision of traders, identification of critical locations that are susceptible to human trafficking and gram Sabhas behavior regularly to merek the community to social threats.
Although various government departments have worked together on prevention of human trafficking, the police are specifically asked to overcome this problem.
Police sources said the district retreated such as default, Balalangir, Nabarangapur, Rayaganada and Nabanada were susceptible to human trafficking.
Bad job opportunities in these areas forced hundreds of workers to approach brokers to migrate to districts and other countries to find work.