Trafficking cases in Jharkhand, most of them involving teenagers, has doubled over the past five years, data compiled by NGOs show.
Teenagers from the state are lured to Delhi and other metros by agents on the promise of jobs and money. But their sexual exploitation begins as soon as they leave their homes.
"They are sexually abused and tortured right from the beginning of their journey to the big cities," said Baijnath Kumar of Diya Seva Sansthan, an NGO working with the criminal investigation department (CID) in Jharkhand.
The Jharkhand branch of Action Against Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Children India claims that over 20% of the girls rescued in Delhi lose their ability to conceive because of their injuries. On an average, 175 Jharkhand girls are rescued from Delhi every year.
Of the 48 girls from Jharkhand rescued by the CID and local NGOs from Delhi on December 25 last year, 23 were minors. It was found that all the 23 girls had been raped by placement agency employees on their first days in the city, the NGO claims.
In 2010, a 17-year-old girl from Latehar was found paralysed. She had been raped by her employer and pushed off a five-storey building.
{{/usCountry}}In 2010, a 17-year-old girl from Latehar was found paralysed. She had been raped by her employer and pushed off a five-storey building.
{{/usCountry}}Anurag Gupta, Inspector General, CID, said: "Most of the girls trafficked to Delhi are sexually exploited." He mentioned recent reports of a young domestic help tortured with a hot iron by her employers after she dropped their child on the floor.
Human traffickers in Jharkhand seem to be enjoying a free run. This is despite the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013, and amendments made in Section 370 of the Indian Penal Code.