In India, statistics of girls being pushed into prostitution is really scary. Millions are part of the flesh-trade, and more than half of them are coerced into the profession.
While prostitution is legal in India, there are activities related to it that are illegal. Like, soliciting in a public place, kerb crawling, owning or managing a brothel, prostitution in a hotel, child prostitution, pimping and pandering.
‘But where is it legal?’, you may ask. It is legal only if carried out in the prostitute’s residence or of others.
But, there’s a village in Madhya Pradesh where prostitution is considered as a family business. In Neemuch district of MP, mothers seek customers for their daughters on the highway.
It’s not the only village in the country to practice it. In MP and Rajasthan, there are 65 such villages. And overall, there are 250 places in India where prostitution is a family business.
According to a Daily Bhaskar article, the practice has caught on the police radar and they are looking into the matter, attempting to curb the practice. There are government schemes and policies in place too but they have failed to have any impact whatsoever.
Men in the community look for partners for their wives and their daughters. Even mothers seek clients for their daughters, each night.
Some women consider it a part of their tradition, while men try to justify theft as community pride.
There are girls who want out. They want to get out of the village and start their lives anew, away from this “family business”. But how much freedom do girls enjoy in a patriarchal society? The widespread terror and fear hinder birthing the emotion of freedom in the girls.
Another problem of the village is that of the age-old dowry system. But here, the girl’s family receives the dowry and not the groom’s. In this community, girl’s family demands a sum of ₹15 lakh to be paid by the groom at the time of marriage.
Because of this reason men choose not to marry and indulge in prostitution even more.
A family business? And girls are pushed into it to carry the tradition forward. How is that a tradition? Aren’t family homes supposed to be a safe haven for young girls? Since when did it become ok for it to be brothels? This is violating and appalling on so many levels. We just hope some strict policies are put in place and girls are not forced into the trade.