ON July 6, Suryapur in Baruipur, on the southern fringes of Kolkata, erupted in protest — an upheaval whose tremors reverberated across West Bengal. The brutal gang rape and murder of a minor girl sparked widespread outrage. Exploiting the tragedy, the state’s new BJP government predictably sought to frame the issue through a communal lens. Following the playbook of its predecessor, it deployed state machinery for political ends, launching a crackdown on protesters and carrying out arbitrary arrests — including the politically motivated detention of Lahek Ali.

Yet, this is hardly an isolated incident. Over the past 15 years, and continuously over the last two months, countless instances of violence against women and minors have plagued the state. Where does it end? In the past two months alone, nearly 42 cases of rape have been reported, alongside numerous disappearances. In the Baruipur case, serious questions have emerged: Did the police kill the primary accused, Prabhas Mondal, in an encounter to cover up the truth and shield the real perpetrators? Furthermore, where was Prabhas Mondal taking the minor girl? Was human trafficking the underlying motive? This single tragedy raises grave concerns regarding the security of women and children in the state, the district, and the Baruipur sub-division.

ACTIVE TRAFFICKING NETWORKS 

Over the past few years, organised trafficking networks targeting women and children have become dangerously active across various districts, with South 24 Parganas standing out as a primary hub. In the last year alone, nearly 200 young girls and women have gone missing from the areas surrounding Baruipur. Reports from research bodies and social organisations consistently highlight the Sundarbans region of South 24 Parganas as a high-risk zone. Disappearances of women and young girls have been reported across Canning, Basanti, Gosaba, Kultali, Joynagar, Baruipur, Kakdwip, and Mathurapur — many of whom remain untraced to this day. Families stripped of their livelihoods by recurring natural disasters frequently fall prey to the lucrative promises of traffickers.

The vast island geography of the Sundarbans, crisscrossed by rivers, is notoriously remote and inaccessible. Frequent cyclones, severe riverbank erosion, rising soil salinity, and the destruction of agricultural land have left countless families destitute. Consecutive disasters — from Cyclone Aila (2009) to Amphan (2020) and Yaas (2021) — have driven large populations into acute economic distress. Exploiting this vulnerability, trafficking syndicates lure victims with false promises of employment, lucrative urban jobs, marriage proposals, or overseas work opportunities. Once isolated from their families and communities, the victims are trafficked. In some instances, desperation forces family members to complicity; in others, syndicates specifically target minor girls from religious minority communities.

In 2022, an operation by the Delhi Police busted a major inter-state human trafficking racket. The investigation revealed that minor girls were lured from Canning, Basanti, Jibantala, and adjacent areas with false job offers and taken to Delhi. There, through a pseudo-placement agency, they were funnelled into domestic servitude. Investigators claimed that over the past decade, nearly 2,000 young girls had been trafficked from West Bengal through this single network, a significant portion originating from South 24 Parganas.

Following Cyclone Amphan, economic collapse again triggered a spike in trafficking across Basanti, Gosaba, Kultali, Patharpratima, and Canning. Field experience highlights grim realities: in Basanti, two sisters from a minority family were ensnared in a fraudulent racket, sold outside the state, and forced into commercial sexual exploitation. The administration initially refused to register a formal complaint due to the involvement of local ruling party figures, yielding only under intense public pressure. This pattern underscores a broader crisis: administrative apathy, delays, and official cover-ups directly fuel the growth of organised crime. Trafficking in the region thrives at the intersection of economic distress, state inaction, and a pervasive lack of social awareness.

A special report by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) highlighted a major rescue operation on March 26, 2023, where trafficked children were recovered from South 24 Parganas. The report further documented numerous recoveries of children trafficked from West Bengal to other states between 2021 and 2023. Human trafficking in West Bengal is not an anomaly; its geographic position, extensive border areas, economic disparity, systemic poverty, unemployment, early marriages, low literacy rates, and deceptive job offer combine to create an ideal hunting ground for syndicates.

THE NATIONAL PICTURE 

According to reports by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), thousands of cases related to trafficking of women and children are registered nationwide every year. West Bengal has consistently ranked among the top states for reported trafficking cases. Experts note, however, that the actual figures are far higher, as a vast number of cases go unregistered at police stations.

Investigations reveal that trafficked women and children are pushed into forced prostitution, sexual exploitation, begging (often accompanied by forced maiming), drug trafficking, pornography, sex tourism, and child labour. The involvement or tacit patronage of local political elites ensures that these illicit networks operate with near-total impunity.

A STATE IN CRISIS

The trafficking of women in West Bengal has reached alarming proportions. Recent NCRB data reveals that in 2025 alone, approximately 53,000 women and 12,000 children went missing from the state. In stark contrast, state authorities officially claimed that only 61 of these cases involved trafficking.

Districts such as North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Malda, and Murshidabad remain heavily impacted. Durgapur in Paschim Bardhaman has increasingly transformed into a key transit corridor for human trafficking. In 2023, joint operations by the Paschim Bardhaman District Police and the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit rescued several minor girls from the Lachhipur red-light area, leading to charges against brokers and brothel managers. Investigations revealed a systematic operation where underage girls were brought from various districts and neighbouring states and forced into sex work. Similar operations in 2022 resulted in the rescue of minors and the arrest of key syndicate members, with victims handed over to child welfare committees. Between 2019 and 2021, multiple operations rescued young women and minors trafficked from Jharkhand, Bihar, and North Bengal. Cases are typically registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956, and the POCSO Act, 2012 (when minors are involved).

Combined figures for 2022–23 show that 17,839 girls under the age of 18 went missing from West Bengal, while the total number of missing females (both adults and minors) stood at 81,902 — the highest recorded across any state in India. Multiple incidents reveal persistent linkages to ruling party elements. Where these political connections exist, police inaction is glaringly obvious. The breakdown of law and order is so severe that law enforcement frequently refuses to acknowledge that young women are being systematically trafficked under the guise of employment.

IMPUNITY FOR PERPETRATORS

The state of the justice system is starkly illustrated by official conviction rates:

Conviction rate for crimes against women: A dismal 3.7 per cent

Conviction rate for crimes against children: Merely 8.1 per cent

These figures reflect a tragic reality where "justice cries in silence." The trafficking of women and children represents one of the most egregious human rights violations of our time. It reflects a deeply ingrained feudal, patriarchal mindset that reduces women to mere commodities. This is not merely an isolated criminal issue; it is a sprawling organised crime ecosystem that exploits social, economic, and administrative vulnerabilities — and today, due to the complicity of the ruling political class and state machinery, it poses a profound threat to West Bengal.