Patna: Judges of the Supreme Court and Patna high court on Saturday urged stakeholders to deal with human trafficking cases with compassion, particularly while rehabilitating victims, at a zonal conference of a high-level committee constituted to frame, implement and monitor a standard operating procedure (SOP) for tackling trafficking cases in India.Supreme Court Justice A Amanullah, who hails from Bihar and was elevated from the Patna high court, urged civil society members to provide job opportunities to trafficking victims as a stepping stone to bringing them into the mainstream, particularly those not accepted by their own families. Amanullah also welcomed the proposal to involve panchayati raj institutions in their rehabilitation.Patna high court judges Rajiv Ranjan Prasad and Mohit Kumar Shah also flagged measures yet to be implemented in Bihar to curb human trafficking.Prasad pointed to rising cases of missing infants who are allegedly stolen and sold from hospitals. “In such cases, Supreme Court has directed for immediate suspension of hospital’s licence which is not strictly followed in Bihar. A hospital is still running till date from where an infant was stolen three years ago,” he said.Prasad also pointed to the absence of a dedicated police officer to handle missing children cases. He said a police officer already burdened with investigating dozens of crimes could not focus on initiating an investigation immediately after a missing child case was lodged.The conference, organised by the state’s home and police department at Gyan Bhawan, was inaugurated by CM Samrat Choudhary. Advocate General Satya Darshi Sanjay, committee chairperson Mukta Gupta, chief secretary and director general of police shared the stage with Samrat.ADG, weaker section, CID, K S Anupama proposed the vote of thanks.The conference was attended by Supreme Court and Patna high court judges and advocates, besides judicial and nodal officers from West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand.
