Rajasthan Admin Not Ready To Accept Bhilwara Trafficking Case, NCPCR Claims 46 Minor Girls Missing

The Bhilwara trafficking case recently came to light when some media reports highlighted the selling off of minor girls on stamp papers.

National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) served a notice to the government of Rajasthan.

However, Rajasthan Minister Pratap Kachariyawas was worried more about NHRC not speaking to Rajasthan Police on the matter first, rather than the ghastly crime happening in the state.

This has been the attitude of most of the government officials. Even Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot himself chose to bring politics into it and downplay the recent findings.

"The incident happened in 2005 when BJP was in power. In 2019, we came and exposed it. 21 accused were arrested, three died and one is absconding. Two children died and the rest went to their homes," he said.

Bhilwara district collector Ashish Modi reiterated Gehlot by saying that it is an old issue of 2019. However, anti-human trafficking unit's data suggests that such cases were on an increasing trend in the state between 2018 and 2020.

Also, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) chairperson Priyank Kanoongo, who visited the place on 7 November, told Swarajya that the issue existed before 2019 and continues to exist after 2019.

An important finding of Kanoongo's survey was that at least 46 minor girls were missing from three villages of the district and he suspects that they might have been trafficked.

To arrive at this number, the NCPCR team looked at the data of girls enrolled in Anganwadi centres or schools after 2004 and they found that 46 of them were not present in the villages.

Kanoongo also highlighted that the number might be higher than 46 as they have no way to trace those who were never enrolled in any record.

The suspicion about trafficking came from discrepancies in the data. He cited an example, "A girl's recorded birth year is 2009, while her mother in Anganwadi records is 71 years old. This is not biologically possible. It might be a trafficking case."

The NCPCR team did not go to those villages which were suggested by the district administration. Instead, they chose villages based on their own research.

"The local authorities are less informed, unaware and negligent of the issue," Kanoongo said while explaining why he did not rely on district authorities' suggestions.

He also pointed out that these findings are not exhaustive as they could visit just three villages, while more villages in the area might have been witnessing such trafficking cases.

Kanoongo also tried meeting the parents of these missing girls but most of them avoided talking to him. However, he could spot that they lived in extreme poverty and might have sold off girls for some money or repayment of debts.

"They (missing girls' parents) neither have any card to receive benefits of government welfare schemes nor any work to earn their living," the NCPCR chairperson said.

Other than NCPCR, the team of National Commission for Women (NCW) and Rajasthan women commission chief Rehana Rayaz Chisti also visited the place.

While NCW's findings could not be accessed, Rehana Rayaz alleged NCW chief Rekha Sharma of "political tourism" and said that people of these villages are hurt that they are being defamed, while no trafficking happened recently.

According to her, this is an old case and highlighting it again and again would only lead to hurting them more. She also asked not to target a specific community.

Meanwhile, NCPCR chief Kanoongo has written to all district authorities about his findings and asked them to submit a report within 15 days. He wants police to trace missing girls and further investigate the matter.