By Mumtaz Alam, IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi, 07 Jan 2015: She was called out of her home in Assam by a friend to have fun and watch a movie. As soon as she inhaled something and fell unconscious her sad journey began, narrates a 20-year-old girl who was sold out in Rs 52,000 to three men in Sonipat district of Haryana some day in the end of this past December. They promised to marry her and kept her in their captivity until she managed to escape on 2nd January.
Recalling her ordeal on 6th January before the press here at the office of Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) which rescued her, Aziza Khatoon (name changed) said she fled from the captors at a home in Karad village in Sonipat. She had to spend a cold night inside a deep jungle in Bahopur village under Israna tehseel of the same district. She was spotted by a villager in the morning and was brought to the village.
The Assamese girl was unable to speak in Hindi but she gave two phone numbers to the villagers. They called her parents in Assam who sought help from SDPI which immediately sent a team to Karad village where she had been given shelter at the home of one noble man Balbir Singh. She was brought to Delhi. Meanwhile, her relatives reached here and SDPI officials handed her over to them.
“There are many girls who have fallen prey to human trafficking net and destroyed their life. If we had not helped this girl on time, we don’t know what would have happened with her, said Azim Naved, Delhi state secretary of SDPI who had led the rescue team of his organization.
Aziza’s is not the solitary case. In fact, human trafficking is rampant in the country. Most of the girls trafficked from Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha and sold out in Haryana with false promise of marriage are in the age group of 13-23 years.
“Girls from regions like West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and South India are deceived in the name of marriage and then sold to buyers. This is actually known as bride trafficking. They are brought to regions like Haryana, Punjab, western Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Maximum numbers of cases have been reported from Haryana. They are referred to as ‘Paro’ or ‘Molki (purchased)’” says Empower People NGO in its latest survey on the issue.
Human trafficking for marriage is attributed to male-female ratio decline in Haryana and Punjab.
According to 51% of representatives of panchayats, the reasons for import are Female Feticide and due to this there is less number of girls in the state, claims the survey adding that 20% of panchayat members believes that poverty and land scarcity are also the reasons for bringing ‘molki’ women, says the 55-page report Study on Bride Trafficking in Haryana.
Most of the trafficked girls are in the age group of 13-23 years.
However, as the NGO found, these young women are bought by people in the region just to have sex.
“bhai swaad len ke maare mol ki lyavain hain, saaryan ka kaam chalya reh ar ghar main lugai dikhe ja”(they import molki for satisfying their sexual needs, all the brothers take advantage of her and for the neighbors they have a bride to show),” the survey report quotes one sarpanch (village headman).
“In the name of marriage the girls are brought to Haryana. It starts from the age of 9 years to 32 years. The demanding age for the import of girls is from 12 to 21 years. 51 girls have come to Haryana of this age group. The import of girls starts reducing as they touch 22 years of age and it stops as they reach 32 years of age. It is natural that behind the import of girls of such small age the concept of institution of marriage comes under doubt,” says the Empower People.
According to the report, 66% of the families who bring the ‘molki’ women consists of Jat community. The sainis holds the second place by 15%. Families from all the different castes use to bring the ‘molki’ women.
Some 79% of victim girls are Muslim, 17% SC or ST and 4% are Brahmin.
According to official data, the highest percentage (23%) of bride trafficking takes place from West Bengal. Undivided Bihar is the next state from where 17% of girls have been lured. Assam is next to Bihar from where 13% of girls are pushed to get trafficked.
70% of ‘molki’ women are regularly gang-raped by folks of buyer family.
“Some 27% of interviewed ‘molki’ women admitted they were sexually harassed by folks of family and 50% representatives of Panchayat endorsed this viewpoint whereas 36% of representatives of panchayat did not say anything regarding this issue,” says the Empower People report.
The report says that majority of the trafficked women are gang-raped by those who bought them. “70% ‘molki’ women clearly admit that they were regularly gang-raped by folks of family” says the report.
Nepalese women sent to Dubai through Delhi for prostitution.
It is not that women are sold out in Haryana and Punjab only, many girls are trafficked from Nepal and northeast region and sent to Dubai and elsewhere for prostitution. The CBI has unearthed an organised international human trafficking racket with Delhi emerging as transit point.
Women, aged between 20 to 30 years, are shown to be travelling to Nairobi via Dubai as tourists, but they do not proceed to Nairobi on reaching Dubai, the CBI said and claimed that an estimated 8,000 Nepalese women were allegedly trafficked to Dubai for prostitution between July and December last year.
“In July last year, a surprise check was conducted by the CBI, the Delhi Police’s anti human trafficking cell and the CISF at Delhi airport, and 76 Nepalese women were found to be travelling on the Delhi-Dubai-Nairobi route on an Air India flight for tourist purposes. They even had hotel reservations in Nairobi… Here in Delhi they are given valid tickets to travel to Nairobi via Dubai, and are also given valid return tickets and visas. However, as soon as they reach Dubai, travel agents cancel their onward tickets to Nairobi. The women, meanwhile, use paper visas they had concealed for staying in Dubai for a month or two,” said a CBI source to Indian Express English daily.
The agency has registered a preliminary enquiry in the matter and written to External Affairs Ministry, Home Ministry and Bureau of Immigration urging them to plug the systemic loopholes.
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