Human trafficking

Forms and scale of trafficking in India

Internal trafficking dominates: women and children from Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar and Assam are moved to Delhi, Mumbai and other cities for domestic work, bonded labour, brick kilns and commercial sexual exploitation. Cross-border flows bring Bangladeshi and Nepali victims into India and push Indians to the Gulf, South-East Asia and beyond. Forced marriage, organ trade, child begging rackets and surrogacy exploitation are persistent niche forms.

The newest variant is cyber-scam trafficking: since 2022, thousands of Indians lured by fake job offers have been held in scam compounds in Myanmar's Myawaddy, Cambodia and Laos, forced to run online fraud under threat of torture. The Ministry of External Affairs has repatriated hundreds through diplomatic channels.

• Source states: Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Chhattisgarh.
• Purposes: forced labour, sex work, domestic servitude, organs, forced marriage, begging, cyber fraud.
• Missing-children data is a proxy: tens of thousands remain untraced each year.
• Cyber-scam compounds in South-East Asia are the emerging frontier.

Legal framework

Article 23 prohibits trafficking and forced labour; Article 24 bans child labour in hazardous work. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita's Section 143 defines trafficking broadly — covering recruitment, transport and harbouring by threat, deception or abuse of vulnerability, for exploitation including prostitution, slavery, forced labour and organ removal. The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act 1956 targets commercial sexual exploitation; the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1976, Child Labour Act 1986, Juvenile Justice Act 2015 and Transplantation of Human Organs Act 1994 cover specific forms.

A comprehensive Trafficking in Persons (Prevention, Care and Rehabilitation) Bill was introduced in 2021 but has not been enacted, leaving the framework fragmented across many statutes. Internationally, India is bound by the Palermo Protocol and the SAARC trafficking convention.

• BNS Section 143: comprehensive trafficking offence.
• ITPA 1956: commercial sexual exploitation.
• Bonded Labour Abolition Act 1976; Child Labour (Prohibition) Act 1986.
• The 2021 anti-trafficking bill remains pending.

Institutional response: rescue to rehabilitation

Anti-Human Trafficking Units, established under an MHA scheme since 2007, are the operational backbone: district-level units combining police, welfare officers and NGOs for intelligence, rescue and victim care. The Railways and BSF run anti-trafficking vigilance on routes and borders; Operation AAHT (Railway Protection Force) rescues hundreds of children annually. The Ministry of Women and Child Development funds shelter homes and the Ujjawala scheme for prevention, rescue and rehabilitation of trafficking victims.

Prosecution remains the weak link: conviction rates are low, trials drag for years, and victims — often poor, migrant and traumatised — rarely sustain testimony. Victim compensation schemes under state legal services authorities and witness protection are unevenly implemented. The 2018 Supreme Court guidelines and NALSA's victim-compensation framework have pushed states to improve.

• AHTUs operate in most districts under MHA funding.
• Operation AAHT: RPF rescues trafficked children on trains.
• Ujjawala scheme: prevention, rescue, rehabilitation, reintegration.
• Low conviction rates are the system's biggest weakness.

Challenges and the way forward

Trafficking thrives on poverty, migration, gender inequality and demand. Detection is hard because victims are hidden in private homes, kilns and brothels, or moved across jurisdictions; the crime is organised, profitable and low-risk. The pandemic and online recruitment expanded traffickers' reach, while cyber-scam trafficking has internationalised the victim profile.

Reform priorities include enacting the comprehensive anti-trafficking law, treating trafficking as organised crime with financial investigation, fast-track courts, standardised victim compensation, and bilateral agreements with South-East Asian countries for rescue and repatriation. Prevention through safe-migration information, skill programmes in source districts and demand-side enforcement is ultimately decisive.

• Treat trafficking as organised crime: follow the money.
• Fast-track courts and victim compensation need teeth.
• Safe-migration awareness in source districts prevents recruitment.
• Bilateral cooperation with Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos for scam-compound rescues.

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