Nagpur: Now, those involved in
human trafficking would be brought under the Maharashtra prevention of Dangerous Activities (MPDA) Act, 1981. An amendment in this regard would be tabled shortly.
This was informed by minister of state for home (urban) Ranjit Patil while replying to a starred query by Husnabanu Khalife, Sharad Ranpise, Sanjay Dutt, Ashok Jagtap and others.
The members expressed concern over rising cases of missing girls in Mumbai and other parts of the state. Citing an RTI reply, they informed that cases of missing girls have jumped by as many as 15 times in last five years.
They sought to know reasons for failure of police and other agencies to curb this crime, despite the fact that CCTV cameras were installed in the city.
Patil informed that offences were immediately lodged in case if the girl is minor as per the directives of Supreme Court in PIL by ‘Bachpan Bachao Andolan’, issued on May 10, 2013. “A standard operating procedure is evolved while dealing with such cases. Offences under the kidnapping are lodged against the accused persons,” he said.
He listed out three websites which were activated by the government to keep track on investigations into the missing cases. “From July 2015 to 2017, ‘Operation Muskan’ and ‘Operations Smile’ were undertaken where six drives were conducted throughout the state. It resulted into tracing of many missing children and Mumbai police is trying its best to find remaining children,” he informed the upper house.
