Child prostitution and human trafficking in India

"13-year-old Mira of Nepal was offered a job as a domestic worker in Bombay, India. She arrived at a brothel on Bombay’s Falkland Road, where tens of thousands of young women are displayed in row after row of zoo-like animal cages. Her father had been duped into giving her to a trafficker. When she refused to have sex, she was dragged into a torture chamber in a dark alley used for ‘breaking in’ new girls. She was locked in a narrow, windowless room without food or water. On the fourth day, one of the madam’s thugs goonda wrestled her to the floor and banged her head against the concrete until she passed out. When she awoke, she was naked; a rattan cane smeared with pureed red chili peppers shoved into her vagina. Later she was raped by the goonda. Afterwards, she complied with their demands. The madam told Mira that she had been sold to the brothel for 50,000 rupees (about US$1,700), that she had to work until she paid off her debt. Mira was sold to a client who then became her pimp."

sd31e4 11536

c3r53 11536

This is an excerpt I read recently on the net. It alarmed me and made me think about my safety as a woman. Human trafficking, prostitution, organ trade, and so many other threats- I wonder how we will battle it out. Districts bordering Maharashtra and Karnataka, known as the "devadasi belt," have trafficking structures operating at various levels. The women here are in prostitution either because their husbands deserted them, or they are trafficked through coercion and deception. The patriarchal society continues to rule out the eradication of prostitution and goes on to cover its nakedness with a tattered robe of hypocrisy and force. If that is not enough, the savage attempts of child prostitution adds up to the trauma. I wonder how long our nation would try avoiding the issue and cover it up with generous amounts of sweet talks and fake promises.