Minor Mothers: Ill-fated girls pawns for sex racket

CRY FOR HELP: CNN-IBN panelists debate why adoption rackets and trafficking thrive in India.

        

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Young girls trafficked to Delhi from Jharkhand and West Bengal, forced into pregnancy and conceiving, their babies sold to prospective buyers. In the heart of India's Capital, placement agencies thrive as their “side-business” of baby selling booms.

The shocking expose on the underbelly of Capital’s adoption market conducted by a CNN-IBN special investigation team on Sunday has sent authorities running for cover and calling for action.

Hours after the investigation - that revealed how minor girls were being illegally brought to Delhi as potential child producers in the garb of domestic help - was aired, the child welfare committee took serious note of the matter and asked for strong action against the culprits.

But while the expose raises difficult questions and seeks accountability, it also reflects on Indian society’s apathy. Do Indians really care for domestic help?

On CNN-IBN’s Sunday special ‘Babies for Sale’, Bhupendra Chaubey discussed the issue with Central Voluntary Adoption and Resource Agency (CEVARA) Leila Baig Secretary and Founder Member of Nirmala Niketan Subhash Bhatnagar.

Just why do such cases happen? Are laws – or the lack of them – to blame? Is that the reason why trafficking of children is now becoming a part of adoption process in the country?

Answering the question Baig said, “It’s not entirely adoption laws which are at fault over here but there is a huge demand for children now. There aren’t enough children coming into the regulated system. So rumors are rampant of private adoptions taking place. This is an abuse of the system where there are so many guilty parties involved.”

“There are the employers of these people their children are being subjected to prostitution, they are probably being abused in many ways and the consent is not taken of the mother,” she added.

When it comes to trafficking or dealing with cases of trafficking, the laws are just not clear. The only law which deals with trafficking refers to prostitution.

Talking about the laws related to adoption and trafficking, Bhatnagar said, “There is absolutely no law for the girls who are being trafficked for domestic work or for any other work. There are only fraud agencies writing registration but they are not registered anywhere. It is mostly a husband wife team registering a partnership deal.”

Talking about the charges to be framed against the guilty, North-West Delhi DCP Manish Agarwal said the statement of the victim, Sukhmai, reveals a kidnapping attempt, rape and confinement and finally, abduction of her baby.

“We have initially leveled allegations at the charges of 363, 367 then 342, 376 which is rape, 506 that is intimidation and 34 that is common intention of committing all the crimes as mentioned. But most of the sections are non-bailable. Nevertheless we are hopeful that with the help of the girl being taken to the native place, she will be able to identify the person and that will make the entire investigation easier,” he said.

The Government figures too tell a dramatic story. Figures estimate that about 12 million children under the age of 14 are employed - that’s almost 12 per cent of India's total population. If we have failed to first control the practice of child labour, how can we deal with such mammoth problems?