This engineer-turned-cop is a role model

New Delhi - Bhagwat has been fighting against trafficking for most of his professional life.

India has an estimated 40 per cent of the 46 million people enslaved worldwide, according to the 2016 Global Slavery Index. These are also the people most vulnerable to trafficking. But, the 2017 Trafficking In Persons report released recently recognised India's efforts to identify victims, complete investigations and increase spending on rehabilitation of survivors. A central pillar of those efforts has been Mahesh Muralidhar Bhagwat.
Bhagwat has been fighting against trafficking for most of his professional life. Early this  week, the US State Department named him one of eight winners this year, contributing to the fight against slavery, citing his leadership and tenacity.
Bhagwat (48), a police officer in Telangana in south India, has taken as his personal mission to prevent trafficking which is a billion dollar business in India. Children and women are lured with promises - or kidnapped - of a job and better lifestyle, and forced into bonded labour, beggary, and prostitution routinely, despite activists campaigning against the practice.
The award recognises those who fight against modern slavery across the world. Bhagwat's police activism is not limited to his profession. He brings NGOs and activists together and have formed a lobby to exert pressure on the state government and has succeeded in turning trafficking into a top priority for administrative action. Bhagwat was presented the award in absentia in Washington on Tuesday.
After winning the 2017 Trafficking in Persons Hero award, Bhagwat said the main problem in tackling the issue is not so much as nabbing the traffickers; but the difficulty in convicting them.
He was happy with the international recognition: "This award is a recognition for the cause that I have been fighting against for more than a decade." Bhagwat, is now the police chief in Rachakonda district of southern Telangana.
Bhagwat's first trafficking case was the one that shocked him perhaps the most. This was in 2004. He had found out that young women from the interior villages were being trafficked by a cartel to the cities. To escape detection, the handlers transported the women in school buses. This meant, the staff of the school - if not the management - was part of the operation. Bhagwat busted the case though he was under political pressure to play down the issue.
Bhagwat is not like just any other police officer. He joined the force not for a living but for a cause. He was a civil engineer before joining the force, and might have built a richer bank balance had he stuck to the subject of his graduation.
Often Bhagwat has been a headache to the authorities on account of his good samaritan tendencies. Equally often he breaks a few unstated rules of protocol and political hierarchy. But no one questions his integrity.
There was one particular phase, Bhagwat said, when he closed down 25 brothels in a year. These brothels housed in miserable conditions young women from all over India.
He also recalls another highlight of his career when he had a key role to play in rescuing more than 350 children forced to work in brick kilns, and can even remember their smiles when they found freedom again.
Labour trafficking is big business in India. Though the Supreme Court has banned child labour, they are still widely employed because they could be paid less and are timid when it comes to fighting for their rights. The informal sector of India, which accounts for 70 per cent of the economy, will crash without labour-trafficking.
"Dealing with traffickers who operate across state and national borders requires a standard protocol that agencies across these boundaries can effectively use," Bhagwat said. 
He said it would inspire him to see the Indian government step up the efforts for prosecutions and convictions in all forms of trafficking. This might, Bhagwat said, require the setting up of anti-human trafficking units in all districts, and that it would involve additional expenses. But human life is precious, he said, and well worth every penny to save it from slavery.
Meet the 2017 Trafficking in Persons Hero
> Bhagwat, a police officer in Telangana in south India, has taken as his personal mission to prevent trafficking which is a billion dollar business in India
> His first trafficking case was in 2004. He rescued young women from interior villages who were being trafficked by a cartel to the cities in school buses
> There was one particular phase when he closed down 25 brothels in a year. These brothels housed in miserable conditions young women from all over India.
> Another highlight of his career was when he had a key role to play in rescuing more than 350 children forced to work in brick kilns
 

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