2024, Vol. 6, Issue 1, Part C

The prevalence of child trafficking as a severe form of violence against children reflects a distressing reality of the present society. It is the worst form of slavery where innocent children are treated as commodities and continuously exploited for monetary gain. It is growing like an epidemic and become a global concern. Every single day countless innocent children disappear from their homes and many of them become untraced. The clandestine nature of such trafficking networks again makes it highly difficult for families as well as police to trace and rescue the victims. As a result, these trafficked children are subjected to ample forms of exploitation including prostitution and sexual exploitation, organ trafficking, forced begging, coerced marriage, and so on. Particularly when it comes to the trafficking of girl children for prostitution as well as for commercial sexual exploitation, it is considered as the most profitable trade practice which is majorly dependent on the supply and demand factors. This further indicates the higher risk of girls in trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation. As India is known as the source, transit, and destination place for child trafficking, the paper delves into the situation of two states particularly, Odisha and West Bengal, and the vulnerability of girl children in these two respective states along with the legal responses aimed that aimed prevention and protection