The Trafficking in Persons (Prevention, Care and Rehabilitation) Bill 2021 will soon be introduced in the Indian Parliament. There are some welcome provisions in the bill. It recognises that people can request care and protection from the authorities, and that such care and protection is not dependent upon rescue (section 11). It does not make rehabilitation contingent on criminal proceedings (section 18). However, unless other areas of the bill are changed these important aspects will be reduced to mere gesture politics in practice.
In its present form, the bill reads like a complex amalgamation of existing laws that deal with various aspects of trafficking and bondage, such as those on bonded labour (Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 (BLSAA)), sex work (Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act 1956 (ITPA)), and others. Shockingly, the bill does not refer to any of these laws directly, but simply states that the bill’s provisions will override any existing laws should there be any inconsistency. That statement is deceiving, and there remains plenty of potential for overlap and confusion in implementation.
For instance, the bill does not clarify how the proposed elaborate executive, judicial, administrative structures will function alongside the administrative structures that are already present in the existing laws. While the bill’s proposed administrative structures will fall under the authority of the National Investigation Agency (a counter-terror agency under the Ministry of Home Affairs), the structures that already exist are all under the Ministry of Labour and Employment and the Ministry of Women and Child Development. This vast chasm between the role, experience, and outlook of these ministries has the potential to do more harm than good for the persons concerned and create confusion for implementing stakeholders.
