100 Judicial Magistrates participated in a bonded labour and human trafficking sensitization program at the Bihar Judicial Academy (BJA) on 18 June 2014. The event was part of a series of field training sessions on court practices for Bihar’s 2014 batch of magistrates, who have already been allocated their destination courts for their work.

An in-depth knowledge of bonded labour and human trafficking issues will be essential as the new magistrates begin to take conscious efforts on behalf of bonded labour victims in Bihar. At the invitation of the BJA, JVI has been working to strengthen this knowledge in the judiciary and has held similar programs for Chief Judicial Magistrates, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrates, and Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrates so far in 2014.

The Bihar judiciary’s desire to strengthen its response to bonded labour and human trafficking is clear. It bodes well for efforts to eradicate these crimes from the state.

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