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'Divine' sexual exploitation continues: NHRC
Octoner 22, 2004
New Delhi - Women belonging to the socially underprivileged classes continue to
face sexual exploitation under an archaic Hindu system, abolished decades ago
by the government.
A National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) report on prevention of atrocities
against the Scheduled Castes found that the tradition of divine prostitution,
popularly known as the Devdasi system, was still alive in many parts of the
country.
The decadent custom under which girls are offered as dedications to temples to
propitiate the deity "is far from dead; the dedication ceremonies have shifted
from main temples to the house of priests or smaller temples with no publicity
and fanfare", the report stated.
Once offered to the temples, these girls are considered the wife of the
presiding deity or more simply public property. They live in temples and can be
used by men, usually belonging to caste Hindus, as they like and whenever they
like.
Saying the system has become more commercialised today, the report pinned
poverty as one of the main causes for its continued practice. It also blamed
the government for the failure to enforce the relevant laws to prohibit the
system.
In some cases, Devdasis are also pushed into brothels.
The Devdasi system was first made punishable under the Hindu Religious and
Charitable Endowment Act, 1927 of Mysore, a princely state then. This was
followed by a blanket ban on the system by the British Raj in the 1930s.
"Implementation of law as well as rehabilitation of liberated Devdasis in
various states has been unsatisfactory," the report said.
"Recently, a tribal girl who was ordered by the village community into
prostitution as a result of violation of some customs was reported. The girl
later committed suicide," it went on to say, but did not give details of where
and when the incident occurred.
The NHRC report, however, said the Devdasi system was still prevalent in parts
of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and the northeast despite the
respective governments undertaking rehabilitation programmes for the those who
had been liberated.
"The rehabilitation programme suffers from adhocism and inadequacy... does not
provide adequate means of livelihood and skill development for this purpose,"
it said.
At several public hearings held as recent as 2001, liberated Devdasis
complained of "lack of response from government for demands of various
assistance, particularly relating to housing and health care and loan for
maintenance of family".
Besides, there was also the social stigma faced by children of such women in
getting admission to schools.
It also said that cases of sexual exploitation were not restricted to just
Devdasis, but also reported among the socially underprivileged women from the
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
The NHRC suggested that the entire gamut of practices leading to sexual
exploitation of the women be brought within the ambit of central law, which
should not only include the Devdasi system but also other customary and social
arrangements which promote or sanctify such practices.
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