As large number of teenage girls from the Jharkhand province have been falling victim to human trafficking, the anxious Jharkhand police has sought assistance of the Punjab police to put an end to this malaise. A team of the Jharkhand police officers accompanied by a magistrate and members of an NGO would be visiting Punjab to take stock of the situation. The inter-state ramification of the case had come to light after the Nawanshahr police caught three teenage tribal girls early this month. They had been allured by middlemen in Jharkhand and Punjab promising them domestic jobs for Rs 2000 or so per month. Realising that the middlemen had been exploiting teenage tribal girls for pecuniary gains both, the Punjab and the Jharkhand police, propose to launch a concerted drive against their trafficking. It is learnt that in many cases girls would flee their places after striking secret deals with middlemen. One of them, Asrita Thopa, 15, had, however, told the police that she had been physically assaulted in the house of the middleman, Jagdish Singh, who has been a nodal figure in human trafficking in the region. The other two girls, Somi and Sangita, informed the police about the third degree treatment meted out to them at Jagdish's place where they were largely kept in confinement till a deal was struck with their perspective employers. All the three girls have since been sent to Nari Niketan in Jalandhar. The parents of Asrita, who claimed to have been physically abused, would accompany the Jharkhand police to Punjab to get her back home. Asrita had escaped Jagdish's house stealthily after she was allegedly raped. The police has been hunting for Jagdish and his son, who is a prime accused in the rape case. Sources said Jagdish has been escaping police trap because of political patronage he enjoys in the ruling party. Distantly related to a Cabinet minister, Jagdish has been on the run along with his son ever since a case was registered against him. [Source: Times of India] _________