Lok Sabha passes anti-trafficking Bill

Lok Sabha passes anti-trafficking Bill

News:

1. Recently, the Lok Sabha passed the trafficking of persons (prevention, protection and rehabilitation) Bill, 2018.

Important facts:

2.Key features of the Bill are given below

• The Bill lays down a stringent punishment of 10 years to life imprisonment for aggravated form of trafficking. Aggravated form of trafficking include:
• Buying and selling of a person’s for the purpose of bonded labour.
• Bearing a child.
• Crimes where chemical substances or hormones are administered.
• Survivor acquires life-threatening illness such as AIDS.

3.The Bill proposes establishing a National Anti-Trafficking Bureau (NATB) for coordinating, monitoring, and surveillance of trafficking cases.

4.It also provides for a Relief and Rehabilitation Committee and Rehabilitation Fund.

5.It prescribes forfeiture of property used or likely to be used for the commission of an offence.

6.To secure right of victims, many political parties demanding:-

• The provision for confiscation of properties likely to be misused.
• Need for community based rehabilitation for survivors.
• Protection for transgender persons under the Bill.
• The Bill also lacks safeguards to ensure that people who voluntarily enter into sex trade are not harassed.
• While critising the Bill, politicians said the Bill victimizing adult persons voluntarily in sex work.

1. Earlier, the Cabinet had  also approved a proposal for making the apex anti-terror body- the National Investigation Agency (NIA) , for probing cases of human trafficking. For which the government is expected to bring a separate amendment to the NIA Act