“Trapped Innocence: The Crisis of Child Prostitution and Human Trafficking in India”

Here we come with another problem. The problem we are discussing today is not just a problem; it's a betrayal of humanity, thriving beneath the skin of apathy, poverty, and broken systems. Today, we are going to talk about child prostitution and human trafficking in India. Every year, thousands of minors vanish into the network of exploitation, often with no way back.

Nearly 45,000 children were rescued from child labor, trafficking, and sexual abuse between April 2024 to March 2025, and among those 45,000 children, 40,400 (nearly 90% of them) were involved in the worst forms of exploitation, including prostitution, debt bondage, pornography, drug trafficking, child soldier recruitment and whatnot.

Article 39(f) of the Indian Constitution directs the state to ensure that children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and conditions of freedom and dignity, and that the childhood of the youth is protected against exploitation and moral and material abandonment. but still India remains on tier 2 in the U.S. State Department's 2024 trafficking in Persons Report, indicating that while the government is making the effort, it does not fully meet the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking.

When we dive deeper and study the recruitment mechanism of child prostitutes, like children initially being lured with false promises of jobs, education, or marriage, then we will understand how the soul of mankind forgets its own reflection for the commission of such heinous offences. Traffickers often use family members, neighbors to gain the trust of children, just like in the Reshma trafficking case (2020), a minor girl was sold by her own relatives to the trafficking syndicate for the purpose of prostitution, and later she was rescued by an NGO after spending several months in forced captivity. Thousands of victims like Reshma are transported across state lines or even internationally every year. These traffickers have control mechanisms for the victims, such as physical abuse and threats, drug addiction to ensure compliance, isolation and confiscation of identity documents.

Despite having statutory provisions and different legal remedies, why are we failing in the implementation? the answer to this is that child trafficking often operates in secretive networks, making it difficult for law enforcement authorities to detect and dismantle such operations. The underground nature of trafficking leads to fewer prosecutions and convictions. Another valid reason is social stigma; the victims, especially minors rescued from prostitution, often face severe social stigma. They are reluctant to come forward or testify due to shame and societal judgment. The most important thing is regarding rehabilitation of victims, victims are not only those who were taken away by the traffickers but also those who are born in this hell, we are referring to the children of sex workers (prostitutes) to relive them from the mental and physical trauma that they have suffered and appropriately rehabilitate them we need the trained personnel to support the recovery of these children in need and care(neglected juveniles).

The rights guaranteed in our constitution are for the development of the personality (intellectual, moral, and spiritual status) of an individual to the fullest extent, and it is the job of all the organs of the government to ensure that no person, especially children, are deprived of these rights.