Road to Hell

Early marriage in many cases leads to early widowhood. The loss of the bread winner is a tragedy in any society but widowhood in India is a major curse, particularly, among the Hindu so-called upper castes in which widow remarriage is not allowed. A widow in India - estimated numbers range between 35 to 50 million - suffers in many ways. A recent survey of widows conducted across seven states ‘reveals the immense psychological and social pressures that widows are under even today: they are accused of being 'responsible' for their husband's death. They are pressurised to observe restrictive codes of dress and behaviour. However young, they are often excluded from social life. They are physically and sexually abused, and are deprived of their property.’ Many of the widows are abandoned on pilgrimages. Some estimates put the number of abandoned widows at 15,000 a year. However, in the recent Kumbh Mela alone, 60,000 abandoned widows were rescued by Allahabad police and taken to their homes but relatives refused to accept them, forcing the government to make some provisions for them. Many of the abandoned widows live in Vrindaban, Mathura and Tirupati, primarily living on begging. Young women often fall prey to the agents of prostitution rings and end up in brothels. It is well known that agents of prostitution rings operate in places of pilgrimage, particularly during big religious festivals and melas in search of abandoned and lost young girls. Thus, there is almost a direct relationship between child marriage widowhood and prostitution. It is not being claimed that brothels mainly consist of widows, in fact, there is considerable trafficking in women and children furbishing the supply to the red light districts of the major cities in India. The U.S. State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report, 2007 places the number of trafficked persons in India at several millions, this includes people trafficked for involuntary labour as well. According to the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs, ninety per cent of trafficking in persons is within India itself. However, India is also the destination for trafficked girls from Nepal and Bangladesh for being exported abroad. . Primarily for reasons of poverty, some parents sell their young daughters into prostitution; some are duped by unscrupulous agents of the vice-rings and marry their daughters to such people. Once the bride arrives in cities she is forced to become a sex worker. As in any other country, the sex-workers in India-numbering nearly 900,000 in the major cities, with a third of them minors; lead a marginalised existence. The national total is estimated to range between 2 and 3 million. They are badly fed and housed and are victims of sexually transmitted diseases. Once trapped, it is impossible to get out; even those young sex-workers who are rescued by the police cannot be rehabilitated. There is hardly any provision for rehabilitation; social attitudes prevent their assimilation in society.