JAIPUR: The alleged sale and purchase of girls to settle financial accounts by debt-ridden families in Rajasthan’s Bhilwara has become a major political issue in the state. The issue has pitted the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the state government against each other.
The NHRC has shot off a team to Bhilwara and the opposition BJP alleged laxity on the part of the Ashok Gehlot government. However, state minister Pratap Khachariawas, retaliating to the NHRC, has said that instead of doing politics the panel should have investigated the matter first.
Sangeeta Beniwal, chairperson, State Child Protection Commission, also reached Bhilwara on Saturday where she defended the state government by asserting that the matter dates to 2019. At the time, the government had rehabilitated the girls by running a special operation, she said.
The issue of selling daughters by debt-ridden families through caste panchayats on stamp paper gained momentum after the NHRC issued a notice to the state government on the basis of media reports and sought a response.A two-member NHRC team even reached the Pander village where the alleged selling of daughters by writing them off on a stamp paper had come to light.
The issue involved auctioning of girls aged between eight and 18 years. There were also claims that girls were being sent to foreign countries and to Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai and Delhi. There has also been talk of the involvement of caste panchayats in this matter.
‘A debt trap’
According to media reports, in many settlements in Bhilwara, brokers used to buy and sell girls from poor families on stamp paper. Shockingly, parents of girls from poor families were first given debts and in case of non-payment of loans they were auctioned off