Information and communication technology intertwined
almost every section and aspects of our society in a way or other. Be it an individual,
for personal expression/relation or for corporate and social enterprise--for
marketing, governance, gathering, movement and political ambitions. It has also
affected right based movements as well as tradition groups such as ethnic or
religious groups, which obviously have its own negative and positive dimensions.
Nowadays, information & communications technologies
are on target of some groups for causing ‘moral damage’ in youths, especially girls
by exposing them to pornography or by making them an easy prey in way or the
other. Different incidents have been cited, where internet friendship and use
of mobile phones were instrumental in the perceived ‘social crimes’. Increasing
numbers of cases of misuse of ICT urged some caste panchayats and ethnic groups
to impose ban on use of technologies by young generation, which has been
criticized by civil societies as a patriarchal reaction. Obviously, ban on
using mobile or jeans is a patriarchal notion for controlling female self in
the community.
 |
| Photo courtesy : Empower People |
In a time where a number of social service and government
organizations are providing ICT services and awareness programs for citizens, human
traffickers too find it to be a comparatively safe mode for luring girls into
their trap. They are using it on a very basic ICT environment and their targets
have often been school going girls.
Rumali’s father is a laborer, who used to visit
faraway Assam villages with his wife and son. Meanwhile, Rumali stayed at her
home in Guwahati for her schooling. Her father gave her a mobile for
communication in absence of the family. She got a call from an unknown number
and caller was sweet to her. As an adolescent she fell in love with the caller
who later identified himself as Rahul Bhuniyya (a fake name). He lured her for
a face-to-face meeting, he came in a car and in the very meeting he proposed
her for marriage with a condition that he can only marry her once they leave
the place since his parents wouldn’t accept her as his bride due to her humble
background. Later when she eloped to
Delhi with him, the man tried to sell her into the bride trafficking market. She
managed to raise an alarm from his captivity and called our organization.
In another case, in April 2013, two Kolkata
schoolgirls were rescued from the red light area of Gaya and handed over to
their parents. The girls were of class 7, had a providential escape from being
pushed into the flesh trade. The girls of Hooghly had befriended two youths - Pintu and Nasim - on
facebook.
A girl approached me for help, who was forcibly
working as sex-worker because of her MMS which she shot with her boyfriend. Her
mobile got lost and soon after she was approached by an unknown man who gave
her stills from that video and forced her to have sex with him and since then
he was using her as a sex-worker by offering her for money to his friends as
well. Irony of the whole story was that her boyfriend was not aware of
anything. The accused of the case was later arrested by police and the case is
under court proceedings.
In Berpeta of Assam we have witnessed 3 cases of
attempt trafficking in one high school within a year, which could only be
averted due to the awareness of the locals but unfortunately last month one of
the girls committed suicide when she felt shame of being a target of the
trafficker. She was lured to have a romantic meeting with the trafficker. She went
with another girl who was her classmate and the trafficker tried to abduct both
of them in a vehicle. The girls started shouting for help and the vehicle met
with an accident which saved them. The trafficker was handed over to the police
by locals who later got released by the police for a bribe, one of above
mentioned girl committed suicide after the episode.
Trafficking in persons is developing new modules and
forms, traffickers are becoming smart and techno-savy to improve their business
and security. Mobile based applications
like Whatsapp and Telegram is being used for offering sex services and other
kind of logistical support for prostitution and trafficking. Interestingly, part
of the new development is that the pimps and traffickers now prefer literate
girls, who can be trained in using these new technologies. Foot-soldiers of the
trafficking-rings are now targeting school going girls in poverty stricken or
developing areas by using technologies like mobile or social networking
websites.
The smarter ways of the traffickers somehow are
inviting smarter solution for the problem. Certainly, I am not suggesting any
ban on the use of technologies rather it would be wiser to be aware with the
new strategies and modules of the criminals. It will be more fruitful if the
problem could be placed for debate in public domain, especially in civil societies.
It is suggested that the approach should be three dimensional-- Social, Technical
and the legal.