manojpoonia
October 6th, 2003, 09:10 AM
Please read the full article "Girls for Sale" in October 13 edition of India Today.
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GIRL MARKET: MANSA
Madam's Operandi
Manjeet Kaur of Manghania, a small village in Punjab, is completely featureless. Petite, dark and clad in a printed salwar kameez, she rambles on in a mix of Hindi and Punjabi with a Bengali accent. "I am illiterate but I know what the world is all about," she says, rapidly eyeing me from head to toe. Considering that she has been hauled up by the police for allegedly running a notorious girl bazaar in the Mansa district, she looks rather harmless.
She is perhaps unsuspecting. I have introduced myself as the owner of a Chandigarh beauty parlour, saying I want to buy girls who can be trained as masseurs. Kaur quickly unfolds a cot and serves water in steel glasses. "What kind of girls?" she asks courteously. "Will local girls do or do you want Bengali girls only?" she queries, adding that the recent police raid was a bid by her enemies to spoil her name and seize her small farm.
Kaur's isolated two-storeyed house overlooking her farm has no tell-tale signs of riches or luxuries. She doesn't look like a typical Punjabi woman because she isn't one. She hails from a small village in Bengal and was herself "sold" over 18 years ago to a Punjabi farmer, who changed her name and her conscience.
It didn't take her long to figure out that she could make a business out of selling girls lured from poor families in West Bengal to farmers in Punjab, who either couldn't afford traditional weddings or didn't want legal marriages for a variety of reasons. Kaur's trade, which began as a random trial a decade back, has turned into a mandi (market) in the past one year. Following her husband's death, she has made repeated trips to West Bengal and come back with young girls, who are sold as "wives".
It is easy to find such girls across Mansa. Some said that they were forced to sleep with all the men in the family, work in the fields, tend to cattle, do domestic work and produce children if the "husband" so willed.
Kaur showcases her wares when there are enough buyers. On the designated day, she rounds up 8-10 girls who are then made to walk before prospective buyers and answer basic questions. The price is fixed depending upon the girl's looks. If the first buyer doesn't like a girl, he resells her.
Kaur doesn't accept that she "buys or sells" girls. She insists it is "social service" because she gets them married. It is another story that none of these girls are legally married.
In April this year, Kaur's mandi had an unusual buyer in the form of Baldev Sharma, a reporter in the local Jagran daily. He, along with another decoy customer, bought a girl for Rs 22,000 ostensibly for marriage and then went to the police.
The next day, after the report was published, the Mansa police raided Kaur's house. Kaur was alleged to be an accomplice of Raju, a feared pimp from West Bengal. Sangeeta,15, who died due to sudden untreatable illness in a Mansa hospital in May 2003, was also sold through this network. Raju is currently underground after an arrest warrant was issued against him.
Mansa authorities are non-committal. "No such marriages have taken place," says Deputy Commissioner Raj Kamal Choudhary. He is miffed when told that india today has photographed and recorded the versions of a number of girls who have been "sold" into marriages. However, DSP Sukhpal Singh Brar of Budhlada district admits that Kaur's house was raided and that they were looking for Raju Dalal. Nobody is able to explain why Kaur isn't arrested yet.
Meanwhile, Kaur continues to smile, her eyes gleaming with the excitement of a new deal. "I will call you as soon as I get the girls," she assures me, taking my phone number. "Come back soon," she says waving goodbye.
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Thanks and Regards,
Manoj.
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GIRL MARKET: MANSA
Madam's Operandi
Manjeet Kaur of Manghania, a small village in Punjab, is completely featureless. Petite, dark and clad in a printed salwar kameez, she rambles on in a mix of Hindi and Punjabi with a Bengali accent. "I am illiterate but I know what the world is all about," she says, rapidly eyeing me from head to toe. Considering that she has been hauled up by the police for allegedly running a notorious girl bazaar in the Mansa district, she looks rather harmless.
She is perhaps unsuspecting. I have introduced myself as the owner of a Chandigarh beauty parlour, saying I want to buy girls who can be trained as masseurs. Kaur quickly unfolds a cot and serves water in steel glasses. "What kind of girls?" she asks courteously. "Will local girls do or do you want Bengali girls only?" she queries, adding that the recent police raid was a bid by her enemies to spoil her name and seize her small farm.
Kaur's isolated two-storeyed house overlooking her farm has no tell-tale signs of riches or luxuries. She doesn't look like a typical Punjabi woman because she isn't one. She hails from a small village in Bengal and was herself "sold" over 18 years ago to a Punjabi farmer, who changed her name and her conscience.
It didn't take her long to figure out that she could make a business out of selling girls lured from poor families in West Bengal to farmers in Punjab, who either couldn't afford traditional weddings or didn't want legal marriages for a variety of reasons. Kaur's trade, which began as a random trial a decade back, has turned into a mandi (market) in the past one year. Following her husband's death, she has made repeated trips to West Bengal and come back with young girls, who are sold as "wives".
It is easy to find such girls across Mansa. Some said that they were forced to sleep with all the men in the family, work in the fields, tend to cattle, do domestic work and produce children if the "husband" so willed.
Kaur showcases her wares when there are enough buyers. On the designated day, she rounds up 8-10 girls who are then made to walk before prospective buyers and answer basic questions. The price is fixed depending upon the girl's looks. If the first buyer doesn't like a girl, he resells her.
Kaur doesn't accept that she "buys or sells" girls. She insists it is "social service" because she gets them married. It is another story that none of these girls are legally married.
In April this year, Kaur's mandi had an unusual buyer in the form of Baldev Sharma, a reporter in the local Jagran daily. He, along with another decoy customer, bought a girl for Rs 22,000 ostensibly for marriage and then went to the police.
The next day, after the report was published, the Mansa police raided Kaur's house. Kaur was alleged to be an accomplice of Raju, a feared pimp from West Bengal. Sangeeta,15, who died due to sudden untreatable illness in a Mansa hospital in May 2003, was also sold through this network. Raju is currently underground after an arrest warrant was issued against him.
Mansa authorities are non-committal. "No such marriages have taken place," says Deputy Commissioner Raj Kamal Choudhary. He is miffed when told that india today has photographed and recorded the versions of a number of girls who have been "sold" into marriages. However, DSP Sukhpal Singh Brar of Budhlada district admits that Kaur's house was raided and that they were looking for Raju Dalal. Nobody is able to explain why Kaur isn't arrested yet.
Meanwhile, Kaur continues to smile, her eyes gleaming with the excitement of a new deal. "I will call you as soon as I get the girls," she assures me, taking my phone number. "Come back soon," she says waving goodbye.
***********************************
Thanks and Regards,
Manoj.