Evicted poor prone to human trafficking, says NGO

Seven months after an alleged forceful eviction that rendered about 380 families homeless, over 1,000 mostly poor people here are living in the open and facing incidents like human trafficking, an NGO said Thursday.

NGO Apne Aap Women Worldwide said that the people, mainly rickshaw pullers and daily wage earners, living in the city's Park Circus area, were forcefully evicted from the area November last year by some goons. Following their eviction, they have not been rehabilitated.

The NGO, working against sex-trafficking, organised a public hearing on the 'eviction' Thursday afternoon.

"The eviction defied all land acquisition laws," member of the jury Taj Mohammad, also an advocate, said.

Ruchira Gupta of Apne Aap said that after the eviction, incidents of trafficking had increased manifold and the children had stopped attending schools.

According to Gupta, four children were allegedly missing after the eviction.

She demanded adequate housing for the victims, a creche for children who were forced to drop out of schools and identification of the goons.