(1.) I. PREFACE : Human trafficking, an inherently complex crime, has long been the subject of some definitional disagreement internationally. In the late 1990s, some consensus was reached and the first ever agreed definition came to be incorporated in the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons especially Women and Children, 2000 [1] (hereinafter, the "Palermo Protocol"), which supplemented the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime. [2] Article 3 of the Trafficking Protocol reads thus:
(2.) This definition makes it clear that all the perpetrators figuring in the organised crime network, including those taking part in the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, qualify as persons involved in the crime of human trafficking. The 'means' through which they secure the victim could range from the use of threat, force, other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power, abuse of a position of vulnerability or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over the victim. It is also emphasized that the aforesaid must be done "for the purpose of exploitation" of the victim(s), which shall include the exploitation of the prostitution of others, other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. If any of the 'means' as enumerated herein is used to cause/effect any of the modes of exploitation as detailed above, the consent of the trafficked victim becomes immaterial.
(3.) Therefore, three key elements must be present according to the definition - (i) the action (recruitment, transportation etc.), (ii) the means (threat, force etc.) and, (iii) the purpose (exploitation). Cumulatively, they constitute the crime of human trafficking. However, an exception to the three-element requirement is carved out when the victim is a child i.e., a person below the age of 18 years. The 'means' element is not a pre-requisite when the crime involves children. It is sufficient to show that the 'action' as described above was done for the 'purpose' as also described above. In other words, in case of persons who are aged 18 years and above, all three elements must be proved for a case of trafficking to be made out. However, for persons below the age of 18, proving the existence of only two elements would be enough.
ABOUT US "REGENT COMPUTRONICS PVT. LTD." is a Company incorporated in 1991 under the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956. Since its inception to 1995, the Company was busy in carrying out the activities related to various Banks' Job Work..
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