Chandigarh: Punjab Police has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate all the cases of human trafficking from Punjab in recent months, especially of Punjabi women to Middle Eastern countries. Kaustubh Sharma, IG, Ludhiana Range, shall act as the nodal officer for hassle-free registration of FIRs in the state.The special investigation team is headed by Randhir Kumar, SP (detective) Ferozepur.

 

What do the order say

In the orders by ADGP LK Yadav it was written that there has been reports that a number of women were trafficked from India to other countries in the Middle East, primarily on the pretext of providing decent employment and salary but these women were/are held captive and left to struggle for survival and starvation.

Seeing severity and gravity of the matters ADGP LK Yadav has ordered that any complaint regarding these matter will be immediately registered as FIR. It also says that SP Randhir Kumar can bring in any new member in the SIT from the local police where the FIR has been registered.

How was this Nexus was exposed

There have been a number of cases in the past in Punjab where women had been trafficked to mainly Middle East countries and sexually harassed and tortured as slaves. Some how one of them managed to reach back home. After that the process of rescuing these women began. In a recent case on May 24, eight women were rescued from Oman with the efforts of Rajya Sabha member Vikramjit Singh Sahney and re-united with their families at the New Delhi international airport. In a similar case, Sahney had earlier this month also rescued seven more women with the help of the Indian Embassy in Oman. These women were sent to Oman by travel agents with the promise of good salary to work as domestic or office help but as soon as they land in Oman, they are dispossessed of their passports and mobile phones, and are treated as slaves. Some how these women managed to contact their family in Punjab and asked to be brought back. 

MP Vikramjit Singh Sahney, who made efforts for rescuing the stranded girls from Oman, thanked chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann and DGP Gaurav Yadav for setting up the SIT. The Punjab government has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate all the cases of human trafficking