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The Bihar government's initiative to curtail one of the gravest criminal offences in the state -- human trafficking -- is finally showing results.
The police have rescued 350 children and 127 women from human traffickers in the last three years, according to official figures.
They have arrested 381 human traffickers.
"After the state government launched the Bihar Human Traffic Prevention Programme, the police have rescued 350 children and 127 women from human traffickers. All the victims of human trafficking were rehabilitated after being rescued," Bihar's Director General of Police Neelmani told rediff.com over the telephone.
Most of the rescued victims of human trafficking were minors.
According to Suman Lal, a worker of Prayas Bharati Trust which works against human trafficking, the boys usually end up working in dhabas while the girls are sent to brothels.
Bihar has registered an alarming rise in cases of human trafficking in recent years, say officials.
While 2007 witnessed 21 such cases, as many as 55 cases were recorded in 2008, 39 in 2009 and 59 in 2010.
But till May this year, only 8 such cases have been registered.
Such incidents are rampant in the poverty-stricken districts bordering Nepal which have emerged as the hub of human trafficking.
The state government launched the Human Trafficking Prevention Programme in 2007-08 to check illegal marketing of women and child labourers and ensure a comprehensive rehabilitation package, said Bihar Social Welfare Minister Parveen Amanullah.
The state government has adopted several programmes with a special focus on trafficking-prone districts like Purnea, Katihar, Kishanganj, Araria, Madhubani, Sitamarhi, East Champaran and West Champaran.
District-level anti-trafficking cells have been constituted in 26 districts under the supervision of the district magistrates.
A state-level anti-human trafficking cell is being headed by the chief secretary.
According to Additional Director General (police headquarters) Rajvardhan Sharma, special programmes are being conducted for policemen to train them to quickly respond to cases of human trafficking.