I was 6 years old when I travelled barefoot to Delhi by train carrying nothing but hunger and desperation. Life in my village was a constant battle for survival, I had to do it for survival. My mother worked in the agricultural fields while I collected thin grasses for horses. My father was bedridden and we hardly could manage medicines for his cure. We worked day and night to survive. Sometimes I used to chew the thin grasses to suppress my hunger. School was never an option. How could one go to school empty stomach? It has been almost 46 years, and I have worked tirelessly and stand on my own feet. I have provided for my family and built a house, and now, I am fulfilling a dream I never had for myself- I am educating my daughter. . .
Namrata
Life often takes us through unpredictable paths, testing our strength and will to survive through the odds. The personal struggle of Namrata portrays powerful imagery like “chewing thin grass to suppress hunger”. Migration is often seen as a pathway to better opportunities, but for many women in Jharkhand, it becomes a trap leading to exploitation and violence. Jharkhand is a state with high out-migration rates and witnesses a significant number of women and young girls leaving their villages in search of employment due to poverty and lack of employment. However, the migration process is often contaminated by illegal placement agencies that exploit the vulnerabilities of individuals by using pieces of employment information.
The trafficking of women for domestic labour is a growing crisis, where the traffickers who disguise themselves as wellwishers prey on vulnerabilities and entrap them in cycles of exploitation. The blurred lines between migration and trafficking make it difficult to distinguish voluntary movement from coercion.
Migration on the one hand is an opportunity for better livelihood but at the same time, it has become an opportunity for the traffickers to use this same path to traffic women, especially for domestic work in the metro cities. The primary targets are women and young girls who are willing to migrate for work. In this process, these women and girls often face deceit, and coercion right from the recruitment phase, and transportation phase and inhumane working conditions at the workplace.
While the advent of globalization brought demand for domestic help from the middle class in the cities and created job opportunities for women in rural areas, it also opened door for the illicit activities that took advantage of the migration loopholes. Domestic work has increasingly become one of the choices among these young girls and women. The preferences are based on their knowledge that an idea of city life and easy money that doesn’t require any education qualification.
However, it is just another livelihood opportunity for someone who wants to fight poverty and secure a better life for their family and themselves but the stark reality that awaits them is different. The article here focuses on the violence that happens during the migration process that precipitates into cases of human trafficking.
According to international law, human trafficking is defined as:
“The recruitment, transportation, transfer and harbouring or receipt of persons using the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud of deception, of the abuse of power or a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person for exploitation (UN, 2004, p. 42).
The law further states that exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others, or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or service, slavery, servitude or the removal of organs”. It also states that wherever there is consent from the victim, the above paragraph will be irrelevant. The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a ‘child’ for exploitation shall be considered “trafficking in person” even if it doesn’t involve any means outlined in the paragraph. A child shall mean under 18 years of age (UNODC, 2000 & Scarpa, 2008, p. 5).
In Jharkhand, a majority of trafficked individuals come from the Adivasi population where socio economic vulnerabilities and structural factors play a major role in the trafficking of women and girls. Many families are coerced into sending their daughters away with promises of stable jobs and good money, only to find them lost to the trafficking networks. There are endless missing cases that have been reported so far at AHTU of Jharkhand with many more that are kept secret with the parents and community who are reluctant to share.
Poverty is the primary reason which gives rise to multiple reasons for someone to decide to move to cities for work. These vulnerabilities in households are so evident that traffickers prey on their weaknesses and lure them into presenting a better life and finances. The probable migrants tend to follow other women in their villages and imitate their lifestyles without knowing the real struggles of the other migrant women until they face similar exploitation.
One such case involved a father who was approached by a few men offering him money and other benefits to send his daughter to work in the city. When he refused, he was beaten up and his daughter was forcefully abducted from her school. The trafficking law clearly states that the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a ‘child’ for exploitation shall be considered “trafficking in person” even if it doesn’t involve any exploitation and a child shall mean under 18 years of age (UNODC, 2000 & Scarpa, 2008, p. 5). There are many more cases where minor girls aged less than 10 years are abducted from their villages.
Another case highlights the role of a deceptive recruitment process. Young girls are influenced by other migrant women in their villages and elope with strangers believing they are heading toward a better life. However, many of them face horrific abuses, where girls who were assisted to migrate to Delhi were raped at their agent’s house for refusing to travel at the last moment. There are cases where girls have testified that apart from their financial needs and poverty, a family conflict or a scolding has triggered them to elope from the house.
A key challenge in addressing trafficking is the thin line between voluntary migration and forced labour. Many women and girls willingly leave their homes for work but end up in coercive situations where their consent becomes meaningless. The initial consent sometimes transforms into coercion when the migrants understand the motifs of the traffickers.
However, once they agree, it becomes difficult for them to escape without any support, making them vulnerable to continued exploitation and entrapment. The absence of proper legal frameworks and support systems exacerbates the problem, leaving women and young girls vulnerable to exploitation and trapped in exploitative working conditions, facing physical, emotional, and sometimes sexual abuse. Understanding these blurred boundaries is essential for crafting effective policies and interventions that provide safe migration pathways while preventing illegal placement agencies from trafficking women.
The trafficking of women for domestic labour in Jharkhand is a severe human rights issue that demands urgent attention. By understanding the socio-economic drivers of trafficking and amplifying the voices of survivors, we can push for meaningful policy changes. Migration should be a choice that leads to empowerment, not exploitation. It is time to take decisive action to protect vulnerable women and ensure their rights and dignity are upheld.
About the contributor: Irma Kerketta is a fellow at EGBVF Ending Gender-based Violence Fellowship at IMPRI and a PhD, Research Scholar at Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
Disclaimer: All views expressed in the article belong solely to the author and not necessarily to the organisation.
Read more at IMPRI:
The Healing Frontline: How Healthcare Professionals Can Help End Gender-Based Violence
Beyond the Basics: Rethinking Men’s Role in Ending Gender-Based Violence
Acknowledgment: This article was posted by Bhaktiba Jadeja, visiting researcher and assistant editor at IMPRI.
