Institutional Reforms to Counter Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children: A Case Study of Police in West Bengal, India

One important target of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 is to end exploitation, abuse, trafficking, and all forms of violence against and torture of children. Unfortunately, even after a lapse of 9 years since the announcement of the SDGs in 2015, countries in South Asia, including India, could not record much progress in addressing trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC). This study focuses on understanding and documenting the challenges and reforms initiated within the police department to deal with the crime of CSEC in the state of West Bengal, India. This study is essentially qualitative in nature, based on in-depth interviews with the police officials working in the anti–human trafficking units, women police stations, and child-friendly police stations of West Bengal. Thirty police officials have been interviewed, belonging to different designations or ranks involved in combating child trafficking in West Bengal. To reaffirm the findings of the interview and also to get an outside perspective on the functioning of the police department, two separate focused group discussions have also been conducted with members of two NGOs that are actively working with the West Bengal police to rescue victims of child trafficking. The study concludes by providing some policy prescriptions, like the need for better training facilities and technological upgrades for the police departments to achieve this important target of SDG 16 within the South Asian region.