New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday told the Rajya Sabha that Punjab has the maximum number of human trafficking cases in the country.
"As far as states are concerned, the maximum number of trafficking cases is from the state of Punjab," the minister said while replying to supplementaries during the question hour.
Jaishankar said the Punjab government has constituted an SIT and a fact-finding committee to look into cases of human trafficking.
"As per information given by them to us, 25 FIRs have been registered against 58 illegal travel agents, and 16 accused have been arrested," he said on Punjab.
"In the case of state of Haryana, 2,325 cases have been registered and 44 FIRs have been registered and 27 people have been arrested. Also, one significant trafficker has been arrested by the state of Gujarat," he said.
To a question on deportations by the United States, the minister said the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has established some years ago an anti-human trafficking division, and it has today a mandate to cover human trafficking.
State governments have also launched investigations into human trafficking cases, he noted.
{{/usCountry}}State governments have also launched investigations into human trafficking cases, he noted.
{{/usCountry}}"The NIA has registered and investigated 27 human trafficking cases, resulting in 169 arrests and chargesheets against 132 individuals. The NIA arrested two important traffickers in Haryana and Punjab on August 7 and then in Himachal Pradesh, two more people on October 2," the minister informed.