An exclusive series of reports by the Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar reported that in Rajasthan, minor girls were being sold off by their family members to pay off loans and the system is prevalent in some districts where certain ‘caste’ Panchayats control the locals. The reports shared heartbreaking testimonies of victims.
As the Indian statutory bodies like the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and the National Commission for Women (NCW) initiate their action against this scandal a day after National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued a notice to the Congress government in the state, it becomes evident to recollect the facts and go through the details of this heinous crime.
The modus operandi
The Bhaskar reports alleged that the loan traps are deliberate and targeted families are made to fall into it. The ‘caste’ panchayat members notice some poor families who have minor girls. They set quarrels between two families and when the aggrieved people approach the ‘caste’ panchayat members assuming them to be the responsible ones, the panchayat burdens such families with a fine of lakhs of rupees. In many settlements in the Bhilwara district of Rajasthan, even today, if there is a dispute or quarrel between two parties, they do not go to the police. A caste panchayat is set up to settle disputes. This is where the process of enslaving girls begins.
The families end up taking loans from private money lenders. Many times, the powerful members of the panchayat provide this loan. For repayment of these loans, these poor families are forced to sell their daughters to these ‘caste’ panchayat members who in turn sell these girls at yet higher prices and earn heavy commissions – the amount of which depends on multiple factors. These girls are then drawn into sexual slavery and prostitution. There have been instances where mothers and sisters are brutalised if the girl refuses to be taken away, as per the reports.
Types of ‘sale’
The ‘caste’ panchayat members often work as dealers and these ‘deals’ take place in two different ways. Either the girls are sold for a few years or they are sold for a lifetime. In the first type, the dealers sell the girls for 5 to 10 years. On stamp paper, buyers deal with the pretext of adopting a girl. In this, the girl is allowed to come home once a year at the festival of Rakhi. Buyers make girls ‘work’ as sex slaves, prostitutes and domestic helps for years, during which the tip that the customer gives, the girls send the money to their homes. Brokers get less commission in this deal. If a girl gets a deal for Rs 8 lakh, the broker gets Rs 2 lakh.
In the second type of ‘deal’, the girls are sold for a lifetime. The girl can never come back to her house. She can’t contact her family all her life. Buyers pay a higher commission to the broker to get this deal done. If someone sells a girl for Rs 8 lakh, then the broker gets a commission of Rs 3 to 4 lakh. Brokers get this deal done by promising the parents of the girls to get extra money. Agents associated with the panchayat have built luxurious houses in the village. No one dares to speak in front of the police and administration because they fear these powerful agents.
Training the girls
Buyers get girls of their choice in the age group of five to eight years. As minor girls, these girls are given specialized training for many years. The training brainwashes the girls to identify the buyer as their family member and refuse to divulge the details of their original family.
Girls from 4 districts including Bhilwada are purchased on stamp paper and sent across the country. The price of girls is decided according to age. After buying, they are kept hungry until the girls agree to obey every order of the broker. Special training is given to these girls to woo customers. Injections of oxytocin are given to these girls, which makes the body develop quickly. When these girls are caught in the police raid, the brokers cleverly take them back posing as their families.
Where exactly in Rajasthan?
Bhilwara, Tonk, Sawaimadhopur, and Bundi have been named as the districts with the highest number of cases of trafficking and selling of girls, as per the report. This gang is most active in the villages of Pander, Tola, Piplu, Sui, Sartala, Thamaniya, Mandalgarh, Surana’s Kheda, Kuchlwada, Badliawas, Udliyawas, Basni of Bhilwara. Apart from this, girls are also sold in Jaisinghpura, Manhatwas, Pozgarh, Ghuni, Kholiyada, Rajmahal, and Kakod villages of Tonk.
After buying girls from the villages of Bhilwara, Tonk, Sawaimadhopur, and Bundi the ‘dealers’ bring them all to Sawai Madhopur and Bundi. Here girls are kept in secret houses. As per the age, and physical appearance of the girls, they are auctioned and sent out of the state. The auction is done in lakhs of rupees. Touts have set up secret hideouts in Chauth Ka Barwada, Udalwada, Sonf, Mandawara, Vanobhabasti of Sawai Madhopur, and Dablana, Ramnagar of Bundi. From here, girls are sold to buyers across the country. After this, they are sent to Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune, Nashik, Goa, Vapi, Daman-Island in Gujarat, Meerut, Ghaziabad in UP, Gwalior, Neemuch, Mandsaur in MP, and Nagpur in Maharashtra.
The brokers make huge money while the victim girls’ families are deprived
Agents and brokers reportedly keep a track of girls from families struggling with finances. They offer loan s themselves or arrange for a loan from their contacts, ans convince the family to sell their daughters for the money. After the daughter’s family agrees, they call the buyers and get the deal done on stamp paper.
Even after selling daughters and sisters, the burden of the loan does not come down, because the amount of interest is very high. Apart from this, brokers take one-third of the amount received on selling the girl as a commission. For example, if a girl’s deal is for Rs 6 lakh, the broker takes a commission of Rs 2 lakh, the Bhaskar report says. Only interest is paid from the rest of the amount, the principal amount remains as it is. People living in these localities do not even have land for farming. They earn a living by daily wages or by selling daughters.
Suresh, a resident of Pander village in Bhilwara, said, “Our ancestors fought the British in the freedom struggle. That’s why I’ve always been in the forests. We never had land, and because of this, we could not even do farming. After independence, many people opted for theft to live. On this, the police launched a campaign and gave us land to settle outside the cities and motivated our people to work as laborers. This is the reason that be it a village or a city, our settlements are on the outskirts of the city. Most people work as laborers to feed themselves.”
Girls rescued in the last raid are sent to the Child Welfare Committee
In 2019, the police conducted a raid in the Pander village of Bhilwara and rescued 20 girls who were sold and drawn into prostitution. Dr. Suman Trivedi is a former chairperson of the Child Welfare Committee of Bhilwara and a judicial member of Standing ‘Lok Adalat’. Bhaskar quoted her saying, “During the counseling of the girls, it was revealed that capsules were given to the girls every day to make them ‘mature’ quickly. They also gave injections of oxytocin. We were also shocked to see a girl. She told her age to be 14 years, while she looked 25 years old. He was given several injections and daily capsules. At the age of just 14, she had had an abortion twice.
Dr. Suman Trivedi told, “Even after being rescued by the police, most of the girls are not able to go to their homes. The biggest problem is seen among those girls, who are either sold by their families in childhood or who are kidnapped. Due to the brainwashing of these girls in childhood, they do not remember the names of their parents and village. When asked, they tell the exploiters as their parents. In such a situation, these girls have to be sent to a juvenile home or Nari Niketan after counseling.”
She added, “When girls come to us, they do not say anything for many days. In the early days, they don’t believe us. They think the police will put them in jail or send them back to the buyer if they talk. Usually, it takes extensive counseling.”
Connecting the dots
Dr. Suman Trivedi also told how difficult it is to draw information from brainwashed girls. She said, “Counselling minor girls is the most difficult. They change their statements every time. As they don’t remember much, they forget most of the old things, what happened to them. Every statement of these girls has to be noted and talked about again and again. They remember everything in pieces, all these dots have to be connected.”
She added, “Many times girls just remember that they were lost at the fair. I don’t remember the village and the address. In such a situation, which fair was there, what was the atmosphere there, how was the path, whose temple was, try to find out by connecting these small links. All this sometimes takes months.”
Routing back to normal life
After rescuing the minor girls, the police have to hand over the girls to the Child Welfare Committee in a span of 24 hours. After this, the Child Welfare Committee sends the minor to the children’s home and the adult girls to Nari Niketan after counseling the girls. The Child Welfare Committee counsels minor girls and traces their parents. After this, the minor girl is sent home.
After finding out about the parents of many minor girls, it is revealed that it was their parents who sold them in the first place. In such a situation, the Child Welfare Committee does not hand over those girls to their parents. Such girls are sent to children’s homes, where they are taught. When they become adults, they are sent to Nari Niketan.
The Child Empowerment Department also provides skill development courses to many girls on behalf of the government. So that girls can be self-reliant. For this, a loan is also given by the department. The adult girl is kept in Nari Niketan, although due to being an adult, the girl can leave if she wants. However, many girls do not have identity cards or they have fake identity cards. In such a situation, they do not get to work anywhere and unfortunately, after leaving Nari Niketan, they are entangled in the dark world of prostitution once again.
Presidents of the state and the national commission for women visited the spot
National Commission for Women chairperson Rekha Sharma, along with state women’s commission chairperson Rehana Riaz Chishti, came for an investigation in Pander, Mandalgarh, Jahajpur, and Bhojgarh in the Bhilwara district on Monday along with the team. Both teams went to the villages and talked to the people and tried to know the truth. Apart from this, the administration and the police also briefed them about the case. After the investigation, both officers noted different observations.
Two days ago, National Commission for Women chairperson Rekha Sharma visited Bhilwara. She said, “In Bhilwara, an entire gang is working to drag young girls to sex work. Girls are being sent out of here.” She also accused the Bhilwara administration and police of working blindly. She said, “The police know all in which area the girls are being forced into sex work and which family is involved in it.”
Rekha Sharma said, “I went with a reporter in his car before my team arrived. As soon as the reporter went to those girls, they started wooing him like a client. I also have photos of it. I then called the Bhilwara SP. He conducted a survey there at night. The next day my team went everywhere. They didn’t find those girls there. But apart from the forced prostitution, there were a lot of complaints from villagers.”
On the arrival of the team the next day, the girls were not seen in the village. People in the suspected localities spoke of their daughters studying outside. When asked about whether their daughters were studying in colleges, schools, and educational institutions and in any district, there was no response from these people. State Women’s Commission Chairman Rehana Riyaz Chishti visited Bhilwara Collector and SP. The authorities ignored the issue as an old matter, as per Bhaskar. The report also stated that the flesh trade goes on without any hindrance on the highways. Makeshift shops and huts are visible on highways where vehicles stop and girls invite customers in full public view. When inquired, the pimps inform that the local police is aware and they give a part of their earnings to local policemen to keep the business running.
