The boy wouldn't speak," she said three years later, reflecting on the improvements in child protection that have since taken place. "Prosecution of traffickers is almost impossible unless the child and his family understand that child labour is a crime," said Suresh Kumar, executive director of Bihar-based child protection charity Centre DIRECT. The government set up a Centre for Child Protection at the Rajasthan Police Academy in 2015 to research child rights and train the police, judiciary and counsellors to combat child trafficking. "We realised something was missing in our efforts to end child labour," said Sharma. "Constant counselling is required to ensure the child is not intimidated in the witness box," said lawyer Tushika Agarwal, who works with non-profit Prayas JAC Society to secure justice in child labour and trafficking cases.

Source: bd News24 November 28, 2019 00:00 UTC