Amid the COVID-19 induced lockdown, in the course of our work with child protection systems in Mumbai, Raigad, Thane, and Palghar, we did not hear about the rescue of trafficked children till almost the month of October 2020. It appeared at the time that the rescue operations had significantly been affected by the lockdown measures. To understand this situation of rescues of victims of sex trafficking, in November 2020, Prerana’s Anti-Trafficking Center conducted a Desk Review of news articles that reported on incidences of the rescue of trafficked persons between May 2020 – October 2020
The objective of the Desk Review was to understand the situation of the rescue of victims of human trafficking in the country, in the light of the COVID-19 induced lockdown between May and October 2020. We analyzed 46 news reports published during this period across various states in India.
Follow