Human trafficking has been on the rise despite campaigns and efforts to stop it, and over 62 per cent of girls trafficked in India land up in brothels before the age of 18.

This was revealed by Rajib Haldar, executive director of the New Delhi-based Prayas Institute of Juvenile Justice, here today. He said over 20,000 young women were being trafficked across the country at any given time. According to him, an alarming 2.3 million individuals, mostly women, had been trafficked in India in the past 10 years. He was speaking at a day-long workshop for Assam Police personnel on human trafficking.

While India continued to be a major source as well as transit point for traffickers, Haldar said a large number of Bangladeshi girls and women were also being transited especially through the Northeast to the rest of the world.

On the increasing figures of trafficked persons, Haldar said while efforts were being made by both government and NGOs the numbers were rising because there was more reporting. He, however, expressed doubts over official figures and wondered how the NCRB report of 2006 showed only 25 cases reported from Assam. “It is funny that Assam reported only 25 cases, while Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura and Sikkim showed not a single case. Even the figures for Manipur, Meghalaya and Mizoram, all showing only one case each, cannot be believed,” he said.