There is no denying the fact that for the last couple of decades, the region has become a hot bed of human traffickers especially of young girls and boys. The trafficking takes place within the region, in the country and across the borders. The reasons for this thriving business are manifold. Prostitution is the main cause. Though prostitution is illegal in India, the industry, according to a study, is a thriving one with $ 8 billion annual income and over ten million prostitutes. And with the growing clientele, it needs fresh supply of girls.

 

The study again says that a third of the prostitutes enter the trade because of abject poverty. And many others are tricked into this trade by touts promising good jobs in metropolitan cities to which the gullible girls from the region fall prey easily. Then comes the demand for domestic servants. Many of the girls who are promised better jobs end up as domestic servants in the affluent houses of the metropolises. Though all these factors are well known to authorities, it is their inaction that is making the trafficking thrive in the North East. Maybe, the Meghalaya Chief Justice can make the state governments to wake up to this menace gnawing at the social fabric of the region.