Draft antitrafficking law may get delayed over difference between ministries

NEWDELHI: Almost two years after it was proposed, the draft anti-trafffcking law may get further delayed following serious differences between two Union ministries over its contours.

While the Union women and child development (WCD) ministry, which is anchoring the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) bill, 2016, wants a separate law, the home ministry is against it.

There is now no single law dealing with human trafficking and the crime is covered under different acts administered by at least half-a-dozen ministries, including WCD, home, labour, health, Indian overseas affairs and external affairs.

At a meeting called at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) last month, government officials said, home ministry suggested amending the Indian Penal Code to include more provisions related to trafficking instead of bringing in a new law.

“Home ministry officials said that bringing in another law is unnecessary,” said a senior official who attended the PMO meeting but did not want to be quoted.

“But the WCD ministry stood its ground that mere tinkering in the IPC won’t suffice. Even now IPC has provisions to check human trafficking but it has failed to curb the menace,” said the official.

It was finally decided at the meeting to refer the draft bill to Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, an independent legal think tank that does legal research for their opinion.