NEW DELHI: The National Commission for Women (NCW) on Friday formed a two-member fact-finding team to look into allegations of auctioning off of girls for loan repayment in Rajasthan's Bhilwara district, it said in a release.
The women's panel said it had come across several media reports about girls from lower caste communities being auctioned off to settle disputes over loan repayments in Bhilwara district of the state.
A report published in Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar on October 25 had alleged that girls aged between 8 to 18 are auctioned off on 50 Rs worth stamp paper to settle disputes in many settlements of the district, particularly involving financial transactions or loans.
In some cases, if the girls aren't sold, their mothers are then raped on the diktat of 'khap' (caste) panchayats for the settlement of disputes, the report claimed. “These girls are sent to Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai, Delhi and even foreign countries", it said.
The Dainik Bhaskar report has presented several testimonies of victims. In one such account, a young woman's father owed Rs 15 lakhs. To clear the debt, the 'khap' panchayat ordered her father to sell his sister, and then, his three older daughters. Still unable to clear the debt, the father then had to sell off his youngest daughter who was 12 years old then for Rs 8 lakh for a period of 15 years. The report claims that he is still in debt.
In another testimonial, a man was reportedly forced to sell his house and further take a loan of Rs 6 lakh for the treatment of his wife, who later died. He had to take another Rs 6 lakh loan for the treatment of his mother. In order to settle the loan, he was forced to sell off his young daughter for Rs 6 lakh to some people, who took her to Agra. There, she was allegedly sold three times and became pregnant four times.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan Chief Minister on Friday promised action and said those guilty of these crimes would not be spared.
In its statement, the women's panel called the reported crimes "extremely appalling and traumatising" and said it had constituted a two-member fact-finding team to look into the matter.
NCW chief Rekha Sharma has also written to the Rajasthan chief secretary and demanded an action taken report within four weeks.
“The report must also contain how the state government is ensuring the functions of the gram panchayat, as per the constitutional provisions or Panchayati Raj Law to eradicate the caste-based system impinging the human rights and the right to dignity of girls and women in the state,” the NCW said.
The NCW has also written to the Director General of Police in Rajasthan to immediately lodge an FIR under relevant sections and arrest the accused at the earliest. A copy of the letter has been sent to the Superintendent of Police in Bhilwara.
On Thursday, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said it has taken suo motu cognizance of the Dhainik Bhaskar report on the matter. It has served a notice to the Government of Rajasthan over this. The commission has observed that the contents of the media report, if true, amount to human rights violations of the victims of such abominable practice.
Priyank Kanoongo, chairperson of the apex child rights body National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), will also visit Bhilwara on November 7 to conduct a detailed probe into the allegations.
Kanoongo said he would look into the nexus of people involved and the number of villages affected.
However, Rajasthan minister Pratap Khachariyawas refuted the reports of the selling of girls in the State. "It is a matter of investigation. When such information comes out, we can't know the truth until there is a probe. NHRC should have spoken to the Rajasthan police first about this. Selling of girls doesn't happen in the state," said Khachariyawas.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI)