Siddharth Prabhakar By

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu has the second highest number of crimes related to Human Trafficking registered last year, according to the latest data released by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

With a total of 509 cases registered, Tamil Nadu is only next to West Bengal which topped the list with 1096 cases. A closer look at the figures indicate that there were 852 cases of Procuration of Minor Girls registered in West Bengal, a column in which Tamil Nadu registered a blank. “ This data confirms that Tamil Nadu has a lower prevalence of sex trafficking cases,” said Mathew Joji, member of the NGO International Justice Mission (IJM) said.

According to him TN had high incidence of human trafficking cases mainly because of the continuous raids by state government officials on establishments employing bonded labour. “The awareness levels in other states about Bonded labour is not that high. In TN, district officials are proactive. Since September 2014, more than 600 people have been rescued by district officials without the help of NGOs,” he added.