Chennai : There had been a turnaround in the way the police looked at human trafficking compared to more than a decade ago, Director General of Police Letika Saran said on Saturday.

Addressing the valedictory of a three-day regional workshop on ‘training of trainers' on human trafficking at Tamil Nadu Police Academy in Unamanchery, she said that earlier trafficking was not high on the list of crime cases to be tackled.

“Only for the last 10 to 15 years it has been accepted as an important crime that needs to be tackled,” Ms. Saran said. She made it clear that prevention of trafficking-related crimes and prosecution of perpetrators was possible only with the coordination of police, prosecutors and judiciary with the Labour Department too playing a crucial role.

She urged participants at the workshop to help in spreading awareness in their States about the measures that need to be implemented for preventing trafficking. “Preventing trafficking is a great service to humankind,” Ms. Saran said.

Additional DGP, CB-CID, Archana Ramasundaram said while it was the duty of the police to prepare cases against offenders under the most stringent sections, prosecutors had the responsibility of marshalling evidence properly and effectively.

She said that a large part of trafficking was internal and hence, it necessitated the need for greater coordination among agencies of the State government.

The workshop was organised by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Bureau of Police Research and Development.

They were informed of the workshop only 10 days ago, Ms. Ramasundaram said, adding the participation of 41 people from Social Defence, Prosecution in addition to policemen was a success. Except Kerala, the rest of the southern States were represented at the workshop, she added. Anoop Jaiswal, ADGP, TN Police Academy, was present. Source