Stats & Facts

* According to a study by Reuters out of an estimated 20 million commercial prostitutes in India, 16 million women and girls are victims of sex trafficking.

* As per the National Crime Records Bureau's 2016 crime statistics, there were 1,100 cases of trafficking. These numbers stood at 2278 in 2018. 2208 cases were reported in 2019 and 1714 in 2020.

* There are nearly 8.1m people trapped in modern slavery in India according to 2018 Global Slavery Index (GSI) estimates. That is over 20% of the number of victims worldwide.

* 70-80% of human trafficking is done for sex (Masoodi, 2014).

* There are +2.8 million sex workers in India (Masoodi, 2014)

* 16 million women are victims of sex trafficking in India every year (Masoodi, 2014)

* 35.47 percent of them enter the trade as child prostitutes before the age of 18 (Masoodi, 2014)

SEX TRAFFICKING - THE TRUE STORY

Sex trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery in which individuals perform commercial sex through the use of force, fraud, or coercion. Prostitution is the practice of engaging in relatively indiscriminate sexual activity, in general with someone who is not a spouse or a friend, in exchange for immediate payment of money or other valuables (Jenkins, 2020)

In most cases, the trafficker is someone the family or the girl knows. The trafficker accesses the right person and collects as much information about the girl as possible. Many a times, the trafficker makes her feel special. The girl feels attracted to the special treatment and trusts the trafficker completely and blindly. The trafficker buys her gifts and makes promises that would be fulfilled if the girl agrees to do what the trafficker says. The trafficker successfully manipulates the girl or the family with dreams of a good future and takes her away from her hometown and family members. The trafficker then exploits her by selling or sexually abusing her, or in some cases both. (Crime stoppers, 2018)

HOW IT HAPPENS